


In Love, Slowly

by grumby



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Fake dating!!!!, Heists!!!!!!, It's also canon-compliant, Mutual pining!!!!!!!!, this fic has it all folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25668133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumby/pseuds/grumby
Summary: There’s no-one shooting at them, for once, and Barry finds he misses it when he realises the alternative is a plane of snooty assholes partying every. Single. Day. The one light in an otherwise gloomy year is Lup, but even his relationship with her is complicated by this shitty plane.He’s been in love for forty years. He’s been putting off asking her out for half that time. They’ve been dancing around the subject for as long as they’ve known each other. He’s pretty sure things can’t get any worse, and he keeps believing that right up until they do.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans/Lup
Comments: 242
Kudos: 184





	1. Chapter 1

Barry’s sure his suit is too tight. The fact it was magically tailored to him doesn’t do a lot to reassure him. The collar feels like it’s choking him and the cuffs chafe around his wrists, and, to top it all off, it’s a glittery red, and he’s sure he looks utterly ridiculous; like a tomato had a kid with a disco ball. It doesn’t help that he’s surrounded by lords and ladies of the highest social calibre, who all look absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. 

The woman he’s chatting to is feigning an interest in his conversation. She keeps sighing and taking huge swigs from her wine glass, and, as he watches, she waves down another waiter and swipes two martinis off the tray he’s carrying. He thinks she’ll offer him one – maybe to try and drink him under the table to shut him up – but instead, she downs both herself and practically throws the glasses on the nearest table. 

The plane they’ve found themselves in values this kind of event, where the very richest and most powerful meet up, eat canapes and drink wine and rub shoulders with other very influential people. Barry hates it. The people feel slimy, like nothing they say is ever sincere, and they’re all interested in him as a marriage prospect. 

It turns out that being an interdimensional alien is enough to make you a catch, even if you’re Barry J Bluejeans. Although, Barry suspects he’d be little more than a prop even if he were to date one of these people - “oh, have you met my date? He’s an alien, of course. They’re in fashion this season, and they go just wonderfully with vermilion.” 

Not that the people here aren’t stunning. They’re all drop-dead gorgeous, with an other-worldly, ethereal beauty about them, but Barry’s not got eyes for any of them. He's very deeply in love already. He tries to suppress that train of thought before it even leaves the station – he's not going to think about Lup. He’s not going to think about Lup. He’s not - too late. 

He still attends all the parties. Apparently, it’d be an unforgivable breach of etiquette for any of the crew to stay behind, and Davenport insists on maintaining good relations until the Light is found, especially since he suspects that one of these partygoers is hiding it. The Starblaster’s planetary surface scans haven’t picked up anything, and the people of this plane are magpie-like in their lust for sparkly things, so the crew surmised that it was hidden in some earl’s treasure vault somewhere. 

The lady finishes her fifth cocktail of the evening, and says, “well, this really has been delightful. Your bond engine sounds absolutely fascinating. I really must take you up on that offer to go over the blueprints with you, but, uh, I’ve really got to -” 

And she hurries off, so desperate to escape she can’t even finish her excuse. Barry smiles into his wine glass as he takes a sip. He’s yet to meet one of these nobles who can stand more than five minutes of his most boring science lectures, and that’s the way he likes it. If he gets a reputation, maybe they’ll stop inviting him. 

But then Lup whirls past in her black dress, and he cranes his neck to watch her go as she dances with a tall, handsome man in a tux, grinning as they spin wildly between the other dancers. 

Who’s he kidding? He loves coming to these parties just to see her laugh. 

She loves the atmosphere, the way everybody’s dressed to the nines, and the gorgeous locales the parties are held in, like the palace housing tonight’s event. Both twins are absolutely in their element, and they’re even enjoying playing at being snooty high society socialites. 

He spots Merle dipping a woman low. She’s nearly six feet – that's another thing about this plane, they’re all unreasonably tall, which further intimidates Barry at his (perfectly average) five foot nine – but Merle somehow manages to make it work. The woman laughs, and the other people around them clap. 

That dampens his good mood somewhat. Even Merle has managed to wow the people of this plane, and Barry likes to think he’s a level above the dwarf in terms of social ability. Barry just feels out of place, like he’s clearly an impostor among the gorgeous, stylish people of this plane. And sure, maybe he’s not _trying_ to fit in with these snooty assholes, but, still. 

He catches Taako’s eye from across the crowded floor. The elf is having a conversation with a woman in a short pink cocktail dress, but he gives Barry a wide-eyed, pleading glance, so Barry downs the rest of his drink and heads over. 

As he approaches, the woman places a hand on Taako’s arm, and Barry winces. _Oh._

“We shouldddd... get out of here. I’ve got a room,” the woman slurs her words and winks. Or, Barry thinks she was trying to wink, but she actually just closed both eyes and raised her eyebrows for a couple of seconds. She’s pretty clearly blind drunk. 

Taako pulls his hand away. “Hey, kemosabe, I’m gay as hell. Sorry.” 

She blinks a couple of times, seemingly confused, and then turns to Barry. “What about you? You into this?” She indicates herself. Taako grins at him over her head, and Barry glowers – _what the hell, man, I came here to help you,_ the look says. Taako shrugs, and takes a sip from his glass. 

“Uh, no, I -” 

“He’s taken,” Lup says, sliding up beside him and lacing her fingers in his. 

Barry’s mind goes blank, and the dial-up internet connecting sound plays in his head. He blinks, and looks down at his hand, which is holding Lup’s hand, and looks up at her face, which is smiling tenderly at him. 

The woman scowls and storms off, and Lup laughs. “Sorry to spring that on you, babe,” she says. 

“Oh, uh, no problem,” he says, flushing scarlet. “I, uh, I – thanks.” 

“Barry? You can let go of my hand, now.” 

He’s still clutching her hand in his. Immediately, he snatches his hand away. “Shit, sorry.” 

“It’s okay, Bear. No big.” 

He looks away to try and regain his composure, but instead he gets a glimpse of Taako, one eyebrow raised, grinning at him. He scowls again, but Taako laughs and grabs a drink off the bar. 

“Hey, Lu,” he says, handing Barry the drink. “Should I be offering congratulations to the happy couple?” 

Lup scowls and opens her mouth to retort, but Barry throws an arm around her shoulders and says, “we’re thinking of a spring wedding.” Both twins have identical looks of shock, before they both burst out laughing. Barry grins. 

He takes a sip from his coffee, trying not to move his head or breathe or even think. 

He can’t handle his drinks like he used to. He’s getting on a bit – hell, he’s nearly ninety years old, even if his body is only forty-odd – and that’s just another reason these parties aren’t his idea of fun. 

Lup whirls into the common room, not looking even remotely the worse for wear. She might be seventy years older than him, but her elven constitution seems to ward off any of the symptoms of a hangover, and Barry’s incredibly jealous. “Hey, babe,” she grins at him. “Rough night?” 

He winces and shushes her, and she laughs. “Want me to grab you some of Merle’s hangover medicine? I know where he hides it.” 

“Gods, please,” he says. “You’re a lifesaver.” 

She grabs her own mug of coffee from the pot Barry had made, and then disappears back off down the corridor. Barry takes another sip and closes his eyes. Have the lights in here always been so harsh? 

Lup reappears in the doorway and presses a tablet into his hand. Barry smiles gratefully and pops it into his mouth before taking a sip of coffee to wash it down. Almost immediately, the nausea recedes and the headache starts to fade. “Thanks, Lup .” 

“No problem, Bear,” she replies, dropping on the sofa next to him. She brings her feet up under herself and rests her head on his shoulder. 

He tenses a little. They’ve been in a strange place in their friendship recently and Barry’s not sure what to think. After forty years of furtive glances and “accidental” contact and telling himself he’s just happy to be her friend, Lup’s touching him, hugging him, leaning on him. It’s enough to fan the embers in his heart – maybe she feels the same way, that traitorous voice inside whispers, but he quashes it as best he can. She’s always been in physical contact with Magnus and Taako and Lucretia – this is just him being made a part of that exclusive group, that’s all. It’s nothing special. Besides, if Lup felt anything towards him, she’d say. 

She’s always been so confident and self-assured, and Barry would be jealous if he weren’t so lovestruck. He wishes he could emulate that confidence, but instead he remains a nervous wreck. 

Before he can work up the courage to say anything at all to her, a familiar jingle plays out of thin air – a strum on a harp, followed by a fanfare played on trumpets. He sighs as a baby blue envelope with no addressing appears out of the ether in a puff of lavender smoke and drops into Lup’s hand. More invites to another party. Barry had hoped the locals would get tired of hosting these events, but evidently not. He holds out a hand, but no envelope appears. 

They look at each other, confused. “Huh,” he says. “Maybe they’ve finally stopped inviting me to those shitty parties. At least now I can get some lab work done -” 

But then Taako walks into the room, holding his own letter. “Hey, Lulu, what did you do to get kicked off the invite list? Our letter only mentions me.” 

Barry and Lup share a confused glance. “What? But – I got my own letter,” she says, sitting upright. “It’s Barry who didn’t get one.” 

“Why would they invite you separately now? You’ve been a package deal this whole time, right?” Barry asks. 

“Yeah, since that very first party the letters have been addressed to both of us.” Taako looks equally confused now. “And why would they uninvite Barold? I happen to know he’s considered one of this plane’s most eligible bachelors.” 

Barry rolls his eyes, but takes Taako’s letter from him and starts reading. There’s nothing weird in the contents, except that it doesn’t mention Lup . Beside him, she sits up and tears open her own letter. 

“Huh?” Lup says. “This letter invites both of us, Barry.” 

Barry cranes his neck to look over her shoulder, and, sure enough, the letter says, in a beautiful cursive font and glistening red ink, “ _Mr. Barold J Bluejeans and Miss Lup Taaco, we would be honoured to welcome you to Castle Griffinsteed tonight for a ball. A banquet will be provided.”_

“Did they fuck it up? Maybe they meant for you two to be in the letter together?” Barry asks, scratching his head. “I don’t understand.” 

A grin slowly spreads across Taako’s face. Lup looks at him, confused. “What, Ko? What is it?” 

“You know who owns Castle Griffinsteed? That lady from last night who hit on our Barold. She’s a duchess or something.” 

Lup still looks confused, but realisation dawns on Barry. “Oh, gods.” 

Taako cackles. “You told her you were dating! She thinks you’re an item! Oh, my gods, pinch me. I’m dreaming, this can’t be real, this is too funny.” 

Barry looks at Lup. Lup looks at Barry. She looks horrified, and he’s pretty sure he does too. 

“Let me get this straight,” Davenport says. “You told a _very_ influential woman that you were dating? As a joke?” 

The majority of the crew are sitting round the table. Magnus and Merle have been living in one of the nearby castles for the last few days, ostensibly to learn more of the local culture, but in actuality because Davenport had heard the owner of the castle was one of the biggest treasure collectors on the plane and had hoped Magnus and Merle could find out if he had the Light. Lucretia and Davenport are there, though, and neither of them seems to find it as amusing as Taako does. 

“I don’t see why this is an issue,” Lup says. “We just tell her we’ve broken up. Easy peasy.” 

Lucretia looks up from her notebook. “This is going to be a big deal. We were the talk of the town even before you two, uh, ‘got together.’” She makes air quotes with her fingers. “You’ve seen how gossip gets around. Remember when we first got here, and we got hundreds of invites to events within hours?” 

“Okay,” Lup says. “So, we tell _everyone_ we’ve broken up. Boo hoo, I’m heartbroken, men, right? How could he be so callous? Okay, I’m over him.” 

“Why am I the callous one in this scenario? Maybe it was me that got my heart broken,” Barry says, forcing a joke. 

Davenport shakes his head at their antics, waving a hand to shut them up. “It’s not that easy.” 

“Wait, why not?” Taako asks, all traces of teasing laughter disappearing from his face. 

“We’re all single,” Davenport says. “That makes us targets for these people. Dating one of us would be a status symbol.” 

“Okay, what’s that got to do with us?” Lup says. “Not that I’m in a rush to end our blossoming relationship or anything, Barry, sorry.” 

“You two being together means you can fly under the radar. You’ll get some congratulations, probably, but after that, the five of us will go back to being the celebrities, and you two will be just some more party-goers. The focus will be on us,” Davenport continues, ignoring Lup’s interruption, “which means you two can use your newfound anonymity to search for the Light in these people’s houses. This situation actually gives us an in. So, do not break up. That’s an order.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! I'm super, super excited to post this. I honestly think it's my best writing yet? It just came to me in a flash of inspiration and I wrote all 25,000 words in like three days. Basically, I really hope you enjoy it. Please leave a comment or a kudos! I read every one, and they all make me so happy.  
> For anyone who's curious, this is cycle 46 - i.e. right before Legato.
> 
> You can read more of my writing on my [tumblr](https://sgrumby.tumblr.com/post/625301032871870464/okay-fuck-marry-kill-avi-the-director-and), like a short fic I wrote about a voidfished Lup seducing lich-Barry? Maybe check it out!
> 
> (Also the name castle griffinsteed _is_ a reference, but if anyone gets it I'll be utterly floored lol)


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh, _congratulations!_ ” The woman trills, placing a hand on Lup’s arm. “I heard about you two being together, and can I just say, you are _such_ a cute couple.” She turns to Barry and winks. “But, you know, if it doesn’t work out...” 

“Oh, _thank you!”_ Lup says, matching her insincere tone, before leading Barry away. “Fuckin’ asshole,” she mutters, loud enough so only he can hear, and Barry has to turn his laugh into a cough when the people around them turn to look at him. 

She’s wearing a different dress from last night – a pastel blue ball gown and matching elbow-high gloves, studded with glimmering yellow sequins that twinkle like stars. He’d enlisted Taako’s help in bedazzling a suit to be the same shade; Lucretia (who had become the resident local culture expert) had insisted they match. Apparently, it’s etiquette. 

Barry’s growing to hate that word. 

He also hates this situation. He's being forced to act as though he’s in love with Lup convincingly enough that everyone watching believes it, but not enough that the crew starts to suspect, or, gods forbid, enough that Lup realises. It’s bad enough Taako knows, he couldn’t handle it if everyone else did. Especially not Lup. She’d probably understand, and that’s the worst thing; Barry couldn’t handle her pitying him. 

She slides a little closer to him and faux-whispers loud enough to be heard over the noise of the party, “shall I hold your hand? We’re newly together, after all,” she grins. “Maybe you can’t keep your hands off me.” 

He forces a smile onto his face. “Why am I the handsy one?” 

“Well, Barold, because you’re dating the most gorgeous woman in the room.” His smile wavers. He certainly is. Instead of saying that, he simply holds out a hand, and she slips hers into his. “If it makes you feel better, Barold, you’re a catch in my book. I wouldn’t trade our budding romance for anything.” He looks at her, and she’s blushing, and he’s pretty sure she’s deliberately not catching his eye, but he’s not sure what to make of that. "Drinks?” She offers, and he jumps on the distraction. 

“Gods, yes,” he says, a little more desperately than he means to – he’s just grateful for the opportunity to numb the crushing anxiety brought on by the rapidly growing crowd – and she laughs. The sound is enough to relax him somewhat, and, as she pulls him through the crowds, she squeezes his hand, and he can’t help but smile. 

Lup reads the tiny cocktail menu, full of the names of novelty drinks, and says, “I’ll have a Mind-Blowing Orgasm, please,” and winks at Barry. The bartender smiles wearily and starts mixing the drink. Barry laughs. He must hear that joke a hundred times a day. 

“And a rum and coke, please,” Barry adds, and the bartender nods. 

They grab their drinks and head over to the far side of the ballroom, where some comfortable armchairs and sofas have been arranged. Thankfully, the night is still young, so the vast majority of people are on the dancefloor, and they easily find chairs beside the enormous window that makes up one entire wall of the room. It stretches from the floor to the ceiling, fifteen feet above them, and overlooks the meadows and forests surrounding the castle. They’re on the opposite side of the ballroom from the band, now, so they can hear each other a little better, but Barry takes a seat on the sofa right next to Lup anyway, just to keep up appearances. That’s why. It’s definitely not so he can cuddle up close with her. Nope. 

She sits, crossing one leg over the other, and leans on him, her head on his shoulder. “You holding up okay?” She says, just loudly enough to be heard over the hubbub of the ballroom. 

“Yeah, not too bad,” he replies. “You?” 

“Yeah,” she says, and he can hear the smile in her voice as she continues, “this could be worse. I could be fake-dating Merle.” 

He fake-gags, and she laughs. “Well, you know, I don’t think this is... particularly onerous either,” he says. “I get to hang out with you, which is hardly a punishment, especially because now these fuckin’ smarmy assholes won’t hit on me any more.” 

“I wouldn’t bet on it, babe,” she says. “Remember that woman at the door?” 

He winces. “Yeah. Gross.” 

“And, y’know, hopefully we’ll find the Light soon. Maggie and Merle might already have it, and then we can fake a break up and go back to being friends.” 

“And get hit on again? No way, you’re stuck with me forever now.” 

She grins and sips her drink, which seems to be just about every imaginable type of alcohol mixed with pineapple juice and a tiny pink cocktail umbrella. “You’d better put a ring on it, then, Barold.” 

“Should we, like, work on a backstory? How did we meet?” He asks, trying to ignore that last comment. 

“Well, I don’t know. We can stick to the truth, for the most part, right? We met at the Institute, and we weren’t really friends right away, but we got selected for the mission and the rest is history. I asked you out,” she says, “maybe on a picnic or something? No offence, babe, but you don’t seem like the type to take initiative.” 

He tries to keep the emotion off his face, even though he knows she can’t see it. She’s hit the nail on the head with that last sentence – she's got no idea how right she really is. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair. I’ll remember that. Anniversary?” 

She hums thoughtfully. “Call it three weeks ago? Long enough that it’s not totally brand new. That way people won’t be expecting us to be all over each other in public. The fifth?” 

He nods in agreement, even though talking about this is making his heart ache. “Sounds good.” 

“Hey, Lup!” Magnus says from behind them, as boisterous as ever, his voice loud enough to be heard perfectly clearly over the music. “Hey, Barry! How’s the party going?” 

Magnus is wearing a sleeveless tuxedo of his own design. Lucretia had been horrified when she’d seen it, but the locals seemed to have taken to it. Actually, glancing around, there are a couple of other people, men and women alike, in similar styles. Barry had protested – if Magnus could wear a sleeveless tux, why couldn’t he, Barry Bluejeans, wear his namesake pants? But Lucretia had insisted that that was a bridge too far, and so he was stuck in suits. 

“Hey, Maggie! How’s that castle you’re staying in?” Lup asks. 

“Oh, pretty good! You know, uh,” his voice drops to a level Barry would still call a shout but Magnus would insist was a whisper, “no sign of the Light yet. Merle got a tour of the treasury and he didn’t see it, so we don’t think it’s there.” 

Lup shrugs. “Oh well. We’ll find it, bud.” 

“I hope so!” Magnus immediately cheers back up again, dropping down on the sofa next to Barry. The cushions flex under his weight and bounce both Barry and Lup into the air. She clutches at him as she’s almost bounced off the sofa, and he blushes. Before anyone can say anything, though, a man in a white suit appears in front of them, and Barry thinks he vaguely recognises him. 

“Hello, Lady Lup,” the man bows. “Mister Barry,” he extends a hand to shake. “I must apologise to you both. I would never have propositioned you in such a manner last night, my lady, if I had known you were already spoken for. Forgive me.” Realisation dawns on Barry. This is the guy Lup was dancing with at the party last night. He’s _incredibly_ handsome, and Barry’s a little jealous. Is this Lup’s type? Tall, thin but muscular, with a strong jawline and immaculately styled hair – basically the opposite of Barry Bluejeans in every imaginable way. 

“It’s no problem, my dude,” Lup says, draping an arm around Barry’s shoulders. “No harm, no foul.” 

There’s an excited gasp from beside Barry. “You guys are together?” Magnus shouts, clapping his hands with glee. “Oh my gods, why didn’t you tell me? Does Taako know? Holy shit, I’ve got to tell Merle – man, he’s gonna be mad, he bet 20 GPs you wouldn’t get together ‘til at least cycle 50!” 

(Barry doesn’t consider the fact that Magnus and Merle are betting on _when_ they’ll get together, not _if_ they’ll get together, or the fact that Magnus doesn’t seem very surprised to learn they’re ‘dating,’ until much later. He’s much too busy being mortified.) 

Lup looks amused as Magnus dashes away. “I forgot Maggie wasn’t there for our team meeting. Should we tell him?” 

Barry’s kinda mortified, but he says, “we can tell him tonight.” She hums in agreement, and they lapse into a comfortable silence. The moon crawls slowly over the horizon, and Barry watches as Lup leans on him. When he pretends their relationship isn’t all a sham, he can almost make himself believe he’s happy. 

“Hey, Bear, c’mon. I wanna dance,” Lup finally speaks up as the band starts up on a new song. “You any good?” 

“You - with me?” 

“Well, yeah, Barold, we’re dating.” 

“Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. Uh, it’s been a while since I danced with anyone, but I’ll give it a shot.” The idea of dancing with Lup is enough to bring an industrial-strength blush to his cheeks. She’s right, though, this is just to keep up appearances. Maybe if he tells himself that often enough, he’ll remember it once her arms are around him. 

“Really?” Lup looks delighted. “I didn’t take you as a dancer, I thought I’d have to teach you.” 

Barry can feel himself blushing. “Uh, I mean, it’s been, like, fifty years. I did some ballroom dancing courses, though.” 

“Barry Bluejeans! You’re full of surprises.” 

He stands and offers her a hand. “My lady,” he says, in a pretentious, snooty voice, “would you care to have this dance?” 

“Oh, good sir, I’d be delighted!” She takes his hand and pulls herself up, and he leads her to the floor. 

The only dance Barry can actually remember with any degree of accuracy is the waltz, and luckily the song being played is a slow beat, so he puts an arm around her waist. By the time he remembers how intimate the dance is, she’s already pulled close to his chest, her free hand taking his. “Your lead, Bear,” she says, and he makes the first step. By some miracle, he avoids stepping on either of her feet, and after that he manages to fall into the rhythm of it, and he only tramples her toes a couple of times. “Shit, sorry,” he says, after one such occasion. 

“It’s cool,” she says. “It’s really been fifty years?” 

“Well, I mean, yeah,” he says. “There’s only been a couple of times I’ve ever needed it, you know? And that one cycle where we had to do a dance-off for the Light didn’t accept ballroom dancing, so I was useless.” 

“Oh, that was a good cycle. Remember me and Ko taught ‘em the Macarena?” 

“And they shot Merle for his erotic interpretive dance?” 

They both laugh, and Barry tries to spin her. He’s glad her dex is so high, because she somehow manages to step right over the leg he places right in her way. “Oops,” he says. “Sorry, I’m not trying to trip you, I swear.” 

“You’ve gotta try harder than that if you wanna see me wipe out, babe,” she laughs. 

“Maybe I’ll stick to the basics. Leave the fancy stuff to you.” 

“I bet I could spin you,” she says. “Let me take the lead.” 

He takes his hand from her back to her shoulder, and she slides her arm around his waist. She leads him through a couple of steps, and then goes for a spin, and to Barry’s amazement, it works flawlessly, and he finds himself spinning back into her arms, even with his two left feet. “Huh.” 

She winks at him as the song ends, and they both wait for the band to start back up again. Barry’s desperately trying not to show how out of breath he is. Lup’s barely broken a sweat. 

She grins at him. “You’re not so bad, babe. I only got a couple broken toes. You should’ve seen when Taako first started learning, he was a mess.” He opens his mouth to reply, but the band starts up on a new song. It’s slow, a piano and violin playing in perfect tandem. It’s also undeniably a romance song. 

“Uh, do you wanna get another round? Of drinks, that is?” Barry asks. He doesn’t want to dance to this – well, he _does,_ but he’s sure Lup doesn’t, so he’s trying to offer her an out. 

“Nah, Bear, we’re supposed to be newly together. We can’t leave the floor as soon as something romantic plays,” she says, and he guesses that makes sense. She still looks a little flustered, though, with a blush rising to her cheeks. He feels bad for her – what a shitty situation for her to be in, to have to pretend to be in love with him. 

“Oh, yeah, okay. Sure. I – what kind of dance is this?” 

She gently grabs his wrists and places his hands on her shoulders, before mirroring the motion with her own hands. She sways gently, in time with the music, taking small steps around the floor. 

“This is very middle-school disco,” he says, and she laughs. 

“Come on, Barry, it’s fine. Everyone else is doing the same, look.” Barry takes a glance across the floor, and sure enough there’s a number of couples in similar poses. In fact, he spots Taako nestled into the arms of a man Barry doesn’t recognise briefly as the crowd shifts, but then they take a step backwards and he disappears from view. 

Lup slides her arms further towards Barry and crosses them behind his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. Barry’s mind goes blank for a second. It’s all pretend, he has to remind himself, she’s just getting in character. She’s a method actor, he tells himself. It’s all pretend. 

That doesn’t stop his heart beating hard and fast in his chest, or his breath catching in his throat, or his mouth going dry. 

The dance continues, and he sways to the music with her as the moonbeams sparkle through the window. He cranes his neck to look – the forest surrounding the castle is stunning, bathed in moonlight, but he turns his head away. Instead, he looks down at Lup, her head nestled in his neck, and he smiles, knowing she can’t see. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The romance... the mutual pining......... the cinnamon tography..........  
> Thanks for reading!! I really hope you enjoy this chapter!! Leave a comment or a kudos pwease owo


	3. Chapter 3

Lup’s making grilled cheese. It’s hardly Cordon Bleu cooking, but Barry’s still impressed. It smells fucking delicious. She flips the sandwiches in the pan with a spatula, and leans back to wait. 

“Hey, Bear, wanna come with me into town after this? I wanna take advantage of the one fucking day all month without any parties,” she says, nonchalantly. “I was gonna invite Ko, but he’s re-attaching the sleeves to all of Magnus’ tuxedos. And I wanna head to the library anyways, see if they’ve got any good evocation spellbooks.” 

“Oh, yeah, sounds good,” he says. “I’ve got a couple of tests I want to run on the Light when we find it, but I need some stuff – uh, probably a new focusing lens for the quasmifier, a new register for the thaumometer, you know. I’ll make a list. It’s better to get it now, in case we have to fight for the Light and suddenly we’re not welcome any more, you know?” 

She nods. “Okay, I was gonna grab some food, anyways, so we can go shopping.” She turns back to the pan and dishes up the two sandwiches, turning off the stove and sliding one plate across the counter to Barry. 

He mutters a thanks and tucks in. It’s incredible; cheesy and gooey and flavourful. 

“It’s all about the cheese. Gruyere, cheddar and gouda. You won’t get a better cheese mix on any plane, Barold, and you can quote me on that.” He looks up and flushes; she’s watching him eat with a look he doesn’t recognise in her eyes. Before he can say anything, though, she takes a bite of her own sandwich and winks. 

“Well, I don’t know,” he says. “I did have that one on Tesseralia...” 

She gasps, placing a hand on her heart. “Barold J Bluejeans, are you telling me that you’re awarding me second place? Spit out that sandwich this instant.” She sprays crumbs everywhere, her mouth still full, and he giggles. 

He chews, smiles at her, and swallows, opening his now empty mouth to show her. 

“How dare you,” she says, mock-furious. “I want you to teach me Ray of Sickness right now so I can use it on you. I want that sandwich back.” She reaches for his plate, but he snatches it and holds it away from her. She stands up as if to come take it from him. 

“Wait, wait! I’ve changed my mind, and I bow to your superior cooking skill. Your grilled cheese is the best I’ve ever had.” 

She leans back and folds her arms. “You’re on thin fucking ice, Barold.” 

He grins at her. “Okay, jokes aside, it’s real fuckin’ good.” 

“Thank you,” she immediately drops the act and grins at him. “I know.” 

They finish up their breakfast and Barry gets changed out of his pyjamas into his jeans – slipping them on feels like being reunited with an old friend after what seems like months of only wearing suits – and heads back towards the Starblaster’s main airlock to wait. Eventually, Lup arrives, dressed down in only shorts and a t-shirt, tied into a knot to make it a crop top. 

“Barold, are you really wearing jeans? It’s like, a hundred degrees out there.” 

“It’s only 75,” he replies. “And that’s my t-shirt you’re wearing.” 

She looks down at herself, examining the fantasy Star Trek tee. “If it’s yours, why does it look so damn good on me?” 

He hesitates, opening his mouth to reply before sighing and closing it again. “I honestly don’t have a good answer to that. I guess it’s yours now.” 

She laughs and takes him by the hand. He immediately starts to feel his palm get sweaty and clammy, but the more he thinks about it the worse it gets, and then it’s the only thing he can think about. “It’ll help us look like we’re dating anyway. That’s something couples do, right? Wear each other’s clothes?” She asks. 

They walk down the ramp and start heading into town. “I don’t know,” he says. “Am I gonna get to wear your clothes, too?” 

She frowns. “I don’t think our cover is worth that much to me.” 

“Hey!” 

They both laugh, and Barry has to remind himself – for the millionth time – that this is all pretend. 

Lup’s got a pile of books, but Barry hasn’t spotted anything that’s caught his interest. For the last hundred years this plane has been obsessed with partying and so little innovation has gone on. They’re pretty average, both magically and technologically. 

Apparently, what they’re god-tier in is shitty romance novels, which Lup’s got whole piles of. 

He pulls “Romancing the moon” from the shelf and examines the cover art. The worse the better, as far as she’s concerned, and this one depicts a werewolf holding a scantily clad woman in his arms. “Any good?” He asks, showing her the book, and she cracks an enormous grin. 

“Oh, fuck yes. On the pile, Bluejeans.” 

She does dramatic readings of the worst sections in the common room, sometimes, with everyone pitching in for character voices and everything. She insists she only reads them for comedy value, but Barry’s walked in on her crying in the lab while reading one about a fishman who dies at the end, or something. He hadn’t said a word, just turned and walked back out. 

“You love these, huh,” he says, looking at her enormous stack of books. 

“Hell yeah I do,” she replies. “Like, either they’re good or they’re really funny. And, either way I win, so. What about you? No good textbooks?” 

“Nah,” he says. “It all seems pretty standard. And I’m not a romance kinda guy.” 

She smiles, maybe a little sadly. “Everyone’s a romance kinda guy eventually. Just gotta find the right person.” 

Yeah. Except he’s found the right person, and she’s not interested. He tries to smile back, but his face muscles don’t seem to want to work. 

“Maybe,” he shrugs. “You talking from experience? Anyone I should know about?” He tries to spin it like it’s a joke. 

“Yeah,” she says. “You, Barold. We’re dating, if you recall.” The comment startles a laugh out of him, and she looks satisfied. “Can you help me carry these? I need to get ‘em all to the checkout.” 

He grabs up a stack, but even with his help she has to levitate a couple of books along beside them. They stumble to the library’s checkout desk, Barry’s pile almost toppling over with every step, and dump them all down in front of the librarian. 

“I’ll take all of these, please,” Lup says. 

“Uh, fifteen books per person maximum,” the librarian says. 

“That’s fine, we’re taking fifteen each. Right, Bear?” 

“Yeah, absolutely,” he says, without even a moment’s hesitation. The librarian frowns, but starts to scan the barcodes. 

Barry looks down at the list he’s been given again. Gods, he loves Lup more than life itself, but her handwriting is utterly incomprehensible. He tries turning it upside down, looking at it sideways, even crossing his eyes like it’s an optical illusion, but nothing helps. He sighs, resigning himself to losing a spell slot, and casts Comprehend Language. The scribble on the page suddenly becomes, “Eggs - two dozen.” 

He smiles and heads off down the baking aisle. He grabs up a huge pack of eggs and places them in his basket, followed by a packet of flour. He examines the list again, but the spell has worn off, and it’s all gibberish. He’s squinting at it when he sees Lup walk past the end of the aisle. 

“Hey, Lup!” He calls, hurrying after her. “Lup!” 

She turns, smiling when she sees him. “Hey, Bear! How’s it going?” 

“Uh, fine, except I had to use a spell to read your writing. What does this say?” 

She scowls at him, but can’t keep it up, and so she laughs, craning her neck to see the list. “Uh, flour.” 

“No, I’ve got flour. Below that.” 

She squints at it, lips moving as she tries to form words. “Uh, I’ve got no idea.” He laughs, incredulous that she can’t read her own writing, but she just shrugs. “Probably wasn’t that important.” 

“Lup, oh my gods,” he says. “I’ll use Comprehend Language again.” 

He casts the spell, and the squiggle turns into “ground almonds.” 

“Oh, almonds?” He says, and she immediately perks up. 

“Oh, yeah! I remember now. I think I already grabbed some, though,” she says, and starts to root through her basket. “Yeah, here they are. Okay, I think that’s everything.” 

He runs through the list again, checking through his basket. “Yeah, I think so,” he says. “Okay, for real, do you not write letters or anything?” 

“Yeah, but Taako’s writing is as bad as mine, so it’s like we’re on the same wavelength,” she says. “Honestly, I’m shocked your writing is so good. You seemed like the chicken-scratch type.” 

“Nah, I like my notes to be clear. No point recording the results of an experiment if you can’t read it afterwards, right?” he says. “You’ve seen my room, you know how messy I am, but my writing is where I draw the line.” 

She nods. “Huh. I guess that makes sense.” They unload their baskets onto the conveyor at the checkout and wait in line. “Me and Taako never really went to school ‘til the Institute. We basically taught ourselves to write.” 

He nods. That makes a lot of sense. It’s something that continually impresses him about both twins – Barry himself had had a relatively easy upbringing; he’d attended decent schools and college and applied for the Institute with every advantage. Lup and Taako had dragged themselves up by sheer determination, intelligence, and talent, and it’s part of what he loves about her. 

“Sorry,” he says. “For making fun.” 

“Hey, it’s cool. I mean, I can barely read my own writing, I know full well it’s bad,” she says. “When I was in the Institute it was better. Guess I’ve let myself fall back into old habits, since I’m not writing daily reports any more.” 

He looks at her, his brow knitting in confusion. “You’re not? I still write Davenport lab reports every day.” 

She looks absolutely stunned. “You - you’re serious? Barry, holy shit, it’s been fifty years. What do you say on days where you don’t make any progress?” 

“I - I detail my plans. Experiments I want to run,” he says, a horrifying realisation dawning on him. “Does he read them? Oh my gods, has my whole life been a lie?” 

She covers her mouth with her hand, and her shoulders shake. 

“Don’t laugh! This is a traumatic moment!” 

She takes her hand from her mouth, but he can tell from the way her lips quirk up at the corners and the way she’s pressing her lips tight together that she’s trying to swallow a grin. The checkout lady starts scanning through their shopping, and Lup starts bagging it up. “C’mon, Bear, I’ll buy you a drink to make you feel better.” 

Barry pays and grabs up the drinks off the counter, pushing his way through the crowd back to their table. The coffee shop is really busy, today, so they’ve only got a small, square table with only two chairs, pushed right into the corner. He drops Lup’s drink onto the table. “One caramel frappucino, extra whipped cream,” he says. 

She looks at his pink drink. “Strawberries and cream?” 

“Fuck yeah,” he says. “Want a sip?” 

She leans over and takes a suck through his straw, and hums in appreciation. “Mm, pretty good. Want some caramel?” He shakes his head, taking a sip of his own drink, so she slurps at hers. 

“How, uh, how are you holding up? We’ve not had much of a chance to really talk about – uh, you know, everything. I’m sure, uh, if you don’t want to go through with this, Davenport will probably -” 

“Bear, it’s fine. Really. I don’t mind. You – we're – you're my best friend. If I have to do this with someone, I’m glad it’s you.” 

He can feel himself blush. “Uh, yeah. Me too.” 

“So don’t worry about it, okay? We’re all good.” 

He wishes he could emulate her confidence. But, then again, she isn’t having to contend with the same feelings he is; for her, this is probably as easy as she makes it sound. Uncomplicated. She just has to pretend to flirt with him. He’s got to pretend to flirt while also pretending he isn’t head over heels. 

“You - you make it sound easy,” he says, immediately regretting the words. “I mean, uh, I’m not – I'm not an actor. I’m not good at lying. If anyone asks, I’ll probably slip over my words and admit everything.” 

“Hey, you’ll be fine. I’ll be right beside you, right? We’re in this together, Bear. I’ll cover you.” 

He can’t reply. What can he say that will express how grateful he is without making his feelings brutally obvious? 

“Are you okay with this?” She says. “Barry, I don’t - we can’t do this if you’re not. I’m not going to do it if you’re not okay.” 

“No, no, no, it’s fine,” he replies. “I - We need to do this. We have to find the Light, and this is our best shot.” He smiles a little. “This is hardly the worst thing I’ve done for the Light. We’ve had to climb mountains, you know? I’ve literally _died._ I can pretend to date you for a few weeks.” 

She smiles back, and seeing it still makes him feel better. “That’s the Bluejeans I know. We got this, right?” 

She makes him almost believe that’s true, and when he’s around her, sometimes it does feel that way. She makes him feel like a different person; a better, more confident person. He wishes he could vocalise any of that to her. 

“Uh, thanks, Lup.” 

_Coward,_ his brain supplies. 

“Hey, it’s no problem. And, you know, like I said, I’m glad it’s you. If it had to be anyone, I mean.” 

He smiles at her, even though he’s pretty sure she’s just saying that. “Really? You don’t think you could be more convincing with Magnus?” 

“Nah, he’s more Taako’s type than mine. I’m surprised Ko hasn’t already hit that,” Lup takes a long slurp, before she wrinkles her nose in disgust. Barry thinks she’s found something gross in her drink, but then she says, “Do you think he already has? Gross, Ko, that’s our brother.” 

Barry laughs. He can’t help it; Lup’s revolted face is so funny, and she’s so outraged at Taako even hypothetically boning down with Magnus. 

Then her words sink in, and Barry feels like a pit has opened in his chest and swallowed his heart. Lup - wouldn’t date a member of the crew? It makes some degree of sense, he supposes; after all, they've become like family. But – he'd honestly thought – he'd hoped - 

He’d been fooling himself. Lup’s too good for him, anyway, and if and when they defeat the Hunger she’ll settle down with someone as funny and gorgeous as she is, and he’ll settle for someone as average as himself. 

“Anyways,” Lup says, apparently oblivious to Barry’s inner turmoil. “I’m glad it’s you. You’re funny, and smart, and you’re basically my best friend on the crew apart from Koko, but I don’t think I could get away with fake-dating him.” 

Barry laughs, trying to suppress his feelings. Lup doesn’t need to know he’s upset, especially over something he already knew. He’d known she wasn’t interested. This was just – this was just the truth settling in. “You could just be an intense narcissist. Maybe you’re so in love with yourself, the only person good enough for you was an exact clone.” 

She nods. “Honestly, you’re right. I _am_ the only person good enough for me.” 

He chokes on his drink at the serious way she says it. She’s right, even if she’d meant it as a joke. Barry knows _he_ sure isn’t good enough for her. 

“Anyways, we should head back. All our shopping will defrost if we’re not quick.” 

He grabs half the bags and follows her out of the store, laughing at something she says, trying not to show the emotion turmoil he’s feeling. 

The sun is setting. Barry’s watching, and, sure, it’s pretty, but it just makes him feel homesick. There should be two suns in that sky, his gut tells him. He shakes his head and heads back inside. 

He goes to pull his IPRE jacket off, but as he shrugs it off his shoulders, he hears a crinkle from the pocket, so he slips his hand in and finds Lup’s pack of ground almonds. Oh. He must’ve put them in there rather than the bag, for some reason. 

He pokes his head into the common room and finds her, in her pyjamas, reading. “Hey, Lup, I found the almonds. I had ‘em in my pocket for some reason.” 

“Oh, neat, I noticed they were missing earlier. Thanks, Bear,” she says. “Could you stick them in the kitchen for me?” He crosses the room to the kitchen door and drops them on the countertop, then heads back into the common room and drops on the sofa next to her. “You okay?” 

“Yeah, I'm all good,” he replies. “Just watching the sunset. Feels... lonely.” 

She nods. “Yeah, absolutely. I didn’t even think about the fact that binary stars are rare until we left home, you know? And we’ve not seen any other planets with two suns since.” 

“Exactly. It’s wrong somehow, right?” She hums in agreement, going back to her book. “Whatcha reading?” He asks. 

She flashes the cover at him. It’s a drawing of an elven man and a human woman; the cover announces “their love was doomed from the start!” 

“Doomed how?” He chuckles. 

“He’s only, like, three hundred,” she says. “So she’s defo gonna die before him. It’s not much good, honestly. Kinda a bummer.” 

He almost flinches. Lup’s only in her mid-one hundreds, and he’s definitely older than the woman on the cover. But, then, they aren’t ever going to be together, really, so this is hardly an issue. “Oh, yeah, uh, sounds like it.” 

“You humans are just so squishy,” she grins at him and pokes him in the arm. “You’re all soft.” 

“Hey, Magnus isn’t soft,” Barry says, out of an odd compulsion to defend his species from this teasing. 

“True, true. Maybe it’s just Barry Bluejeans who’s soft.” 

He laughs. “Well, maybe.” 

“I - _we_ wouldn’t have you any other way,” she says. “I can’t imagine you all muscled up. It’d be weird.” 

He pulls a face. She probably didn’t mean to offend, but it’s a little hurtful. “Yeah,” he says, unsure. 

“Oh, no, I don’t mean it like that,” she says. “Just - you know, you’re like a big teddy bear. Good for hugging.” She leans over and wraps an arm around his shoulders, placing her book in his lap so she can keep reading. He pauses a second before putting his arm around her waist, leaning over so he can read too. Maybe he can’t be with Lup, but this’ll have to be enough, he tells himself. Furtive glances and stolen touches. 

Deep down, he knows it’ll never be enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter <3  
> Please leave a comment and a kudos bc I, much like the wonderland liches, survive on the emotions I rip out of you. Thank you, see you on Thursday!


	4. Chapter 4

“So, is this lady, like, important?” Magnus whispers. “We’ve been to her castle a couple of times, right?” 

Duchess Griffinsteed swings around. She grins a wide grin that Barry doesn’t think is wholly sincere. “I like to think I’m quite important,” she says. “And yes, you’re quite right. The most esteemed nobility has first dibs, as you might say, on dates for balls. The rabble, those earls and barons, practically commoners, they get to choose from what’s left. So, naturally, Castle Griffinsteed has hosted a significant number of events.” 

She turns back around and continues walking down the corridor. It’s lined with suits of ornamental armour, shields and swords in display cases, and grand oil paintings of landscapes and the duchess’ ancestors. She points them out as they pass. “Obviously, this is the armour my grandfather wore in the battle of Hawk Ridge. You can see the bloodstains, still, look -” 

Lup’s holding Barry’s hand, and he’s trying to focus on the duchess’ monologue as a distraction from that. They’ve agreed to a guided tour, in the hopes that she’s got the Light hidden away somewhere – they’re hopeful they can persuade her to show them her treasure vault. 

“I, uh, bet you’ve got a sweet treasure vault,” Magnus says. Barry and Lup both turn to him with matching looks of shock and frustration, both of them once again reminded that subtlety is not Magnus’ strong suit. He shrugs at them. “I saw one at the other castle I was staying at. He said he had the finest collection in the plane.” 

“Hah, the shack they call a palace over at Skyhold? That’s pathetic. We’ve got whole chambers of antiquities and treasures in the dungeons beneath the Castle. Of course, much of it is restricted, but I’m sure I can show you some of it,” the duchess says, seemingly unaware of Magnus’ obvious probing. 

“It’s a shame none of you have seen the Light,” Lup says. “We have many treasures of our own, you know. The rarest artefacts from other worlds. We’d be interested in making a trade with whoever locates it.” 

The duchess hums, tapping a finger on her lips. “Well, if I could get my hands on it, I’d certainly be interested in a trade. Unfortunately, no-one I’ve spoken to has seen it.” 

Barry glances at Lup, and he can tell she’s thinking the same. She’s definitely lying. Magnus strolls on, seemingly oblivious, as Barry grabs Lup’s sleeve. They both stop walking. She steps in close so that from a distance it’d look like they were embracing, and Barry feels his cheeks burn from the proximity even as he whispers, “if she doesn’t have it, she knows who does.” 

“Agreed. I’m thinking we need a look at her ‘chambers of antiquities.’” 

Barry nods, and they step apart. Lup’s flushed, too, which Barry carefully notes, before dismissing – _it doesn’t mean anything, Barry,_ he tells himself. They both jog to catch up with Magnus and the duchess. 

“... This is actually the very bed I was born in,” she’s saying, holding a door open to show him the inside of a bedroom, and Magnus is nodding. 

“Gross!” He says, agreeably, giving her a wide smile. 

She squints at him, but doesn’t say anything, instead turning to face Barry and Lup as they approach. 

“Hey, sorry,” Barry says, as they get close. “We were, uh, uh -” 

“Making out!” Lup says. “We were just over there making out.” 

The duchess looks at them, and Barry has to suppress a laugh at the way she so obviously regrets inviting them all into her home. “Right,” she says. 

“Please, show us your birth bed,” Lup says. “Obviously, I’ve got one back home, but it was destroyed when the Hunger came. I mourn that bed more than most of my family.” 

She says it with an entirely straight face, but Barry’s having to bite down on his tongue hard to keep from grinning. He nods, sagely, and tries to adopt a mournful expression. 

“Well, yes, of course,” the duchess says. “I don’t know how I’d manage without my own treasures.” 

She turns back to lead them further down the corridor, talking incessantly. 

“She’s got the Light, right?” Magnus whispers to Barry, who raises an eyebrow. It’s easy to forget, with Magnus’ open and friendly demeanour, that the big guy is pretty shrewd. “Why would she have restricted chambers? They love showing off their treasure.” 

Barry cocks his head. That’s... something he hadn’t even considered, but it supports what he and Lup had already intuited. “Yeah, we figured she knew more than she was letting on. Sounds like we can tell Davenport we’ve found it.” 

Davenport nods. “Okay, I agree. It sounds like she’s got it.” 

“Heist, heist, heist,” Taako whispers. 

“We need to do some recon -” 

“Heist, heist, heist,” Lup joins in the chant as it gets louder. 

“The next event at Castle Griffinsteed is in just two weeks -” 

“Heist, heist, heist!” Magnus shouts along. 

Barry tries to suppress a grin as Davenport buries his head in his hands and groans. “Please, gods,” he mutters to himself as the chant continues. 

Then everything goes eerily silent, and Merle grins at them from across the table. Both twins scowl at him and cross their arms, in perfect, almost creepy, synchronisation. 

Merle waves his hand, and the Silence he’d cast dispels. “Sorry, kids, but I think Dav was about to jump overboard. Thought I’d step in.” 

“Thank you, Merle,” Davenport says. “I’m not authorising any heists until we’re certain it’s there. I’m not about to piss off a very important figure on a hunch.” 

Taako scowls. “Okay, so what do we do? Boring reconnaissance?” 

“I mean, we still need to break in,” Davenport says. “I wouldn’t call that boring. So, here’s the plan. We give it a couple of days, and then we take her up on her offer to examine her treasures. While that’s happening, some of us sneak away and find the Light.” 

“Wait, so why can’t we snatch it then and there?” Lup asks. 

Davenport frowns. “And when she finds it’s missing? We’ve been looking for it, and we’ll probably be the only people to have visited her vaults in a while. It’d be very obvious it was us. So, what we do instead is, we find out where it is, and then, in two weeks, when Castle Griffinsteed holds its next ball, we break in and steal it. They’ll suspect us, but they won’t have any proof.” 

Lucretia looks up from her scribbling. “Okay, so some of us have to stay and distract the duchess. I think I have the best charisma modifier here, right? So I’m a perfect fit for that. And Magnus, Merle – you’re not very stealthy. Sorry.” 

Merle shrugs and laughs, unoffended. “No, you’re right. I’d probably knock something over.” Magnus nods in agreement. 

“Cap’n’port, you’re an obvious choice to stay behind, too. You can create an illusion to cover us,” Lup says. “Which leaves me ‘n’ Ko to find the Light.” 

“Hm.” Davenport frowns. 

“What?” She asks. 

“Nothing. Uh, take Barry with you.” 

Lup looks mildly confused, but she shrugs. “You down for that, Barold?” 

“Uh, yeah, sounds okay to me,” he says. 

They filter out of the room, off to prepare for tonight’s party – held at a much less grand venue than Castle Griffinsteed. Davenport catches Barry’s sleeve as he passes. “Try and keep them out of trouble, Barry, please.” Barry nods. 

As he watches, the twins start preparing for dinner. A couple of minutes in, Taako says something, and Lup scowls. Taako laughs, and Lup hurls a bag of flour at him. It explodes, leaving Taako – and the rest of the room – coated in flour, his mouth agape in shock. He gets his revenge by cracking an egg on her head, though, and Lup shrieks. Barry understands why their captain had wanted him to tag along – Taako and Lup are chaos personified. 

“This -” the duchess lifts an enormous, sparkling ruby from a case - “is the Lost Cave Ruby. The largest ever found on this plane, you know. They say it was mined by dwarves, a thousand years ago, in a mine that’s since collapsed and been lost.” She holds it up to the light, and it glints. 

She’s so enraptured by the ruby that she doesn’t see Davenport wiggling his fingers, or hear him whispering the verbal components for a Major Image. She looks back up, and smiles. “Have you ever seen a gem quite so gorgeous?” 

“Oh, _never,”_ Lucretia gushes. “We’ve seen emeralds the size of your head, but none were so flawless as this. May I hold it?” The duchess smiles, gratified at Lucretia’s fawning, but quickly begins to looks nervous as she hands the ruby carefully to her, watching her every move like a hawk. 

Suddenly, Barry sees the back of his own head. He blinks – even though he’d known the illusion was coming, it’s a surprise. Davenport nods at them, and Barry knows he’s invisible. They've got ten minutes to find the Light before their illusory doppelgangers disappear. 

Barry casts True Seeing. Davenport’s illusions vanish, and he sees Lup and Taako, shrouded with the same silver light that tells him they’re invisible to everyone else. Lup points to a door on the far side of the room, one eyebrow raised. It’s an enormous, wooden door, studded with iron rivets. It’s exactly the kind of door Barry would hide something behind if he was as dramatic as the duchess. 

He nods, and the three of them pick their way across the room, giving the duchess and her guards a wide berth. They might not see them, but they’ll still hear them and feel them if they get too close. 

Lup gets to the door first, and she reaches out an arm to push on it. It doesn’t budge. She holds up a hand, palm outstretched – wait. 

She disappears. Taako rolls his eyes, and mouths, _dramatic._

Barry grins, and busies himself looking at one of the exhibits on display. He might not like the duchess, but she does have a lot of interesting shit – for example, a cursed necklace that turns the wearer slowly into a chicken. He finds himself theorising on how the curse could work, and wondering whether or not he could try it out before regen. Probably not, he decides, just in case it’s not something the bond engine can fix. He’s not willing to spend the rest of a potential eternity as a chicken for the sake of his curiosity, although it’s a close-run thing. 

Then Lup reappears, and holds up three fingers. Three guards. Taako nods, and all three of them link arms and Blink together, appearing in a smaller chamber, laid out in much the same way as the last, with small display cases lining the walls, but with one crucial difference – in the middle of this room is the Light. 

It’s on a triangular pedestal, three feet high, surrounded by three guards, each of them with their back to it, facing a different corner of the room. They look alert, and Barry thinks they’ve got the look of well-trained mercenaries about them. They won’t be easy to get past. 

The pedestal itself looks like it could be trapped. He steps closer to examine it, and spots three identical runes, one carved in each corner of the pedestal. He’s not an expert on this plane’s runes, so he pulls out a pen and sketches the symbol on his forearm for later research, pulling his sleeve back down to cover it after. He checks the glass covering the Light, and finds a basic alarm sigil carved into it – if the glass is broken, an alarm will sound somewhere. He turns to show Lup, but both twins are on the other side of the room, looking at a display case. 

Barry sneaks over, with one last nervous look at the guards, and looks through the glass. The twins are snickering, and – oh, of course. It’s a sex toy made of solid gold. 

He rolls his eyes, and points to the Light with one eyebrow raised. Lup mouths _boring_ at him, but they come over anyway. He indicates the glyphs, and Lup frowns at the complicated one, examining it for a second before shrugging her shoulders. Taako points to the basic alarm sigil and mouths _easy._ Barry nods in agreement. 

Then, Lup looks down at her watch, and holds it up for them both to see. The countdown timer is rapidly approaching ten minutes. 

Taako nods, and grabs them both by the shoulders. They Blink back into the other room, and Barry dispels the True Sight. Lup and Taako fade from view, and the illusions Davenport had conjured appear, stood next to the others. Illusion-Barry fumbles the priceless vase he’s holding, and everyone yells in panic, but he catches it and gives a sheepish grin. Real-Barry scowls. He’s feeling pretty called out right now. 

He tries to line himself up perfectly with the illusion, so that when the magic fades and he reappears he won’t seem to blur to an onlooker, and he tries to force himself to relax. Until now, he’d been pretty chill, but now is the point that everything could go wrong – what if the duchess’ guards see them and work out what’s going on? All seven of them are in this dungeon – how would they get away? 

Barry’s so nervous he hardly notices the illusion drop. No one bats an eyelid. Lup grins at him. 

“You really must come back. It was simply wonderful to have you all visit,” the duchess says. “And I’m so glad you all enjoyed seeing my unique collection.” 

Davenport bows, and takes her hand to kiss it. “My lady, the pleasure was all ours.” 

He’s good at sucking up, Barry thinks, even as he sketches the trap rune into his notebook. Probably those years working for the bureaucrats at the IPRE. 

“Ah, I was going to add,” she says. “A rather more private invitation than our usual fare. Mister Bluejeans, Miss Lup, I’d be truly honoured if you’d join me for dinner tonight.” 

Barry blinks. Lup blinks. 

“It would be simply wonderful to get to know the pair of you, especially now you’re courting,” she continues, and Barry tries not to let any emotion show on his face, because his overwhelming emotion right now is horror. 

Lup seems to recover, and gives a winning smile. “Of course. What time should we aim for?” Barry’s eternally grateful she managed to say something, because he was struggling with words, for some reason. He’s never been much good under pressure. 

“Oh, call it seven o'clock? I’ll have the servants whip something up. Oh, I am glad you can come,” she says. “Delightful. I’ll see you then.” 

And she turns on her heel and glides away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Less pining, more heists! I promise the next few chapters are disgustingly sickeningly sweet to make up for it, though!
> 
> If anyone would be interested in beta'ing the next chapter for me, I'm not quite happy with it, so maybe send me a message on [my tumblr?](https://sgrumby.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Anyway, thank you all very much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Before we get started, I just wanted to thank both my beta readers - [gaywizard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaywizard/pseuds/gaywizard) and [toooceanblue!!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooOceanBlue/pseuds/TooOceanBlue) Without them, this chapter wouldn't be as good as I think it now is, so thank you both so much!

Barry walks through the corridors of the Starblaster, relishing all the time he has in his jeans before he has to change into his suit. He desperately wishes he could just wear denim to all these social functions. Why not? Jeans are hardwearing, practical, comfortable. They’re also stylish and sexy as hell - Barry’s had numerous fantasies about denim-clad men and women in his years. Lup had worn a jean jacket a couple of cycles back and he’d had to pretend to be ill so he could hide in his room and not have to see her wearing it. 

As he passes by the common room’s open door, Taako’s voice rings out. “Hey, Barold!” 

He pokes his head around the door. “Taako?” 

“Come in here,” he says. “I’ve made some cookies I want your opinion on.” 

Barry’s surprised. Taako doesn’t often ask for his opinion on foods, citing his unrefined palate and the fact he once ate nothing but Fantasy Kraft mac and cheese for two weeks in a row. “Sure,” he says. 

Taako holds the cookie out, and Barry takes a bite. “Oh, Taako, it’s really good,” he exclaims. “What is it, lemon?” 

“Yeah, lemon and lavender,” the elf preens. “Of course it’s good, this one’s a Taako original.” 

Barry holds his hand out for more, but Taako pulls the cookie away. “Nuh uh, Barold, you’ll spoil your dinner tonight. And you’re goin’ out.” 

Barry scowls. “Yeah, I guess. Speaking of, I should get ready.” 

A funny look comes over Taako’s face. Maybe indecision? Barry’s not really familiar with it – normally Taako’s so confident. “Uh, yeah,” Taako says. “Just, uh -” 

“Taako, are you okay?” 

“Yeah, Barry, of course,” he says. “Just -” 

Dealing with the twins is like a game, sometimes, and you have to know the rules – if Barry pushes, Taako will clam up and claim he’s perfectly fine. Instead, Barry waits. Taako turns back to his tray of cookies, lifting them off the tray and onto a cooling rack. There’s a few more seconds of silence before Taako continues. 

“You remember what we talked about? Back in the beach year? About Lup?” Taako asks, still facing away from him. 

How could Barry forget? Sometimes, he lies awake at night replaying that conversation, mortified. “Taako, I – I don’t -” 

“Wait, listen,” Taako says. “You’re not gonna get a lot of free advice outta Taako, you have to take it where it’s offered.” 

And despite his jokes, he sounds so serious that Barry stops talking immediately. 

“Okay,” Taako continues. “Okay. So, you know Lup. Obviously.” 

Barry nods, even though Taako’s still facing away from him. 

“And, she’s my sister.” 

“Was that, like, a Luke and Leia revelation for you?” 

Taako turns back to him and shoots him a withering glare. “Shut up, Barold, you’re not helping here. What I’m trying to say is, you can’t tell her I’m saying this, okay? This – this is real shit. I’m spilling the beans, here.” 

Barry nods, seriously, the traces of humour gone from his face. “Okay, Taako.” 

“The thing is. She’s so full of energy, normally. Y’know, you’ve seen her go running with Magnus. I don’t get it, but, y’know, it makes her happy. And, she’s way more outgoing than me? She was friends with everyone on the crew within weeks of cycle one. I’m still getting there on some of you chucklefucks.” 

Barry huffs a laugh. “Right.” 

“Okay, basically, what cha’boy’s trying to say here is that she’s been actin’ weird, recently. And, obviously, you know, it sucks _.”_

Barry furrows his brow. He hadn’t noticed Lup acting weird. “Really?” 

“Oh, not around you. She’s - I dunno, m’dude. She’s just lying in bed a lot, not wanting to go out. Remember she baked three trays of macarons? She only does that when she’s stressed out.” 

“Oh,” Barry says, immediately feeling bad for not realising. But, why would she not be acting weird around him? “Should I talk to her?” 

“Yes,” Taako says, “but not about what you think.” He pauses a second. “Lup’s, uh, upset because you guys are pretending to date.” 

Taako’s words hit Barry like a punch in the gut. He tries to breathe, but it’s like there’s no oxygen in the room. Lup’s miserable? And it’s his fault? He – they've got to put an end to this. He doesn’t care if this is their best shot at getting the Light. 

“Barry, are you getting what I’m saying here?” Taako asks, examining his face. “Lup doesn’t like _pretending_ to date you.” 

Gods, Barry can’t believe he’d conned himself like this. Lup’s so perfect, so amazing, there’s no way she’d ever want to be with him. He’d been deluding himself this whole time. He - 

Taako facepalms and groans. “Barold, do I have to spell this out?” 

Barry blinks, roused from his internal monologuing. “What?” 

“She’s miserable. Because. You’re. _Pretending.”_ Taako puts a heavy emphasis on that last word, drawing out the syllables. 

Barry thinks for a second. Wait... 

“Gods, Barry, I thought you were meant to be the smart one?” Taako says, exasperated. “She’s spending all this time with you, and she’s seeing what it’s like to date you. Now she’s got a taste for it and she wants the real thing, but you guys are literally the _most oblivious people in any planar system_ and you both haven’t noticed the other is pining. Is that explicit enough to get through that thick skull of yours?” 

Barry blinks. “Lup - What?” 

“Barold, did you think we hadn’t noticed? You’re mopey, and sad, and irritable and grumpy and just a downer overall. Everyone knows it. And Lup’s the same, any time she’s not with you. It’s real obvious, my dude. And you’re my best friend, and she’s my sister, and it sucks.” Taako sighs. “This isn’t a fantasy rom-com, Barold. I’m not gonna tell you what to say through an earpiece. You have to work this out on your own. I’m just – I'm giving you a little nudge.” Barry blinks again, but Taako’s already breezing out of the room. He pauses in the doorway. “Or a not-so-little nudge. Maybe it’s a shove, but I’m sick of her – of you _both –_ moping. It’s been twenty years. Go do something about it, dumbass.” 

Barry gives it maybe half an hour. It takes that long for him to be sure that Taako and Lup aren’t gonna burst in and yell “psych!” Not that he really believes either of them would do that, but he also doesn’t really believe Lup could possibly feel the same way about him, so... 

If anyone asks, he needed the time to get changed into his suit. The same red one from the first party, when Lup had first pretended they were together. 

He nervously pokes his head out of his room, but he doesn’t see anyone in the corridor outside his room. He knows that the others were planning to head into town, since there’s no party tonight, and so it’s probably only him and Lup on the ship right now. 

An ideal time for him to broach that conversation. If Taako says that’s how Lup feels, he believes him. He nods decisively. He’s gonna do it. He strides to her door and knocks. 

There’s a couple of seconds’ delay. His heart hammers in his chest and his breathing starts to get shallower. Can he really do this? What’s he gonna say? “Lup, I’m in love with you?” Might be coming on a bit strong, Barry, he tells himself. Tone it down. “Want to go on a date?” She’d probably think he was joking, given their current circumstances, and that’d probably hurt her feelings all the more. “Can we get dinner?” is also a reject, for much the same reason. Gods, what can he possibly say - 

And then she’s stood in front of him. She’s wearing a suit, the same shade as his, but where his suit makes him look bulky in all the wrong places hers makes her look sleek and fabulous. She’s shaved her already short hair into an undercut. “Hey, Bear,” she smiles at him, and – maybe Barry’s imagining it, after what Taako said, but maybe he spots some real affection in her eyes. 

“Uh,” he says, eloquently. 

She waits a moment, and then laughs. “Barry, _you_ knocked on _my_ door, what is it? I knew this suit was a knockout, but I didn’t know it was going around lobotomising people, too.” 

He shakes his head and chuckles. “Sorry. Uh, it’s nothing, don’t worry.” His confidence fails him, and as he turns away he clenches his fists until his nails cut into his palm. Gods, he’s a coward. He even _knows_ that she feels the same way, and he still can’t bring himself to say anything. 

“Bear? You okay?” She sounds so concerned about him, and he wants to scream. Why can’t his hell brain figure out a way to verbalise this? 

“Yeah, Lup, I – I'm good. Just, uh, nervous about our dinner, I guess.” 

“Yeah, Bear, I mean, me too,” she says with a soft smile. 

He laughs, and her smile morphs into a look of confusion and hurt. “Oh, sorry, I – it's hard to imagine you being nervous about anything.” 

She smiles, too, and says, “there’s plenty of stuff I’m nervous about, Bear, I’m just good at not showing it.” 

“I wouldn’t have known. Honestly, you – you're always so confident. I wish I -” 

“Stop right there, babe,” she says. “I wouldn’t change anything about you. Maybe you’re not the most self-assured, but I wish I was as compassionate and kind as you are. So, y’know, we’ve both got our strengths.” She looks away, a faint blush on her cheeks, and Barry thinks – _oh. Okay. Maybe_ _Taako_ _was right._ How had he missed this for so long? 

“Lup, I – I was talking to Taako, earlier,” he says. “And, uh, he said – he, uh, he said -” 

She looks back to him and grins that grin that Barry’s so in love with, and he feels any confidence evaporate. It's just so hard to imagine she’d - she’d feel anywhere near the same way he does. “Take your time, Bear.” 

“He said you might need help getting ready, since he’s going out,” Barry says, giving up. He just can’t get the words out. It’s agony, like the words are acid in his throat, but he can’t swallow them or spit them out. Tears burn his eyes, threatening to spill over, and he blinks them away. 

She gives him a soft smile. “Yeah, I could do with some help. You any good at eyeshadow?” 

He shrugs, trying not to let on the emotional turmoil he’s feeling. “It’s been fifty years, but I can give it a shot.” 

She holds the door open for him, and he walks into her room. 

It’s not as if he doesn’t come in her room, sometimes. He’s been in everyone’s rooms, at some point – Merle's is like an overgrown jungle, with leaves and vines even overhanging the bed and desk, Lucretia lives in a library with every inch of space filled with books or pens or ink, Taako’s quarters are like a beauty salon, with nail polish and makeup and hats and shoes and jackets and skirts draped over every surface. Barry’s own room is a mess; he’s got books and papers scattered across the floor and the shelves and the desk, piles of clean clothing that he’s yet to put away littering the surfaces, dirty glasses and plates scattered around. 

Lup’s, though, is by far his favourite. She’s got pictures of her and Taako lining the desk, the walls, her headboard – them hugging on a beach, Lup sitting on Taako’s shoulders, Taako in mid-scream as the handle of the frying pan he’s holding breaks and deposits the contents on his lap. But, mixed in, there’s photos of the crew – Magnus’ face, a mask of joy, barely visible in a pile of dogs; Lucretia asleep, face down in one of her journals, still holding a pen in each hand; Davenport looking revolted as Merle waters a plant in the common room, wearing only a towel around his waist. Barry’s favourites, though, are the ones of him and Lup – one Taako took of them in the lab, their heads together, wearing identical lab coats, both scribbling in the same notebook; one of them together in the beach year – her sunbathing in a bikini and sunglasses, him neurotically applying sunscreen; and one of them, both grinning, his arm around her shoulders and her hand above his head making bunny ears. He remembers that they’d taken that one in Tesseralia after spending all day together eating great food and checking out the library and mostly just enjoying being with each other. 

He picks the photo up off her desk and smiles, and she looks over his shoulder and smiles too. “That was such a good year,” she says. 

“It really was. Remember that day? I – that's one of my best memories.” 

“Aw,” she says. “That’s really sweet. It’s one of mine, too.” 

She turns and starts rooting through her drawers, so he puts the photo down, looking over the rest of them. Now he looks, he’s pretty sure he’s in more of these photos than anyone except Taako... 

“Here!” She triumphantly yanks some mascara out with one hand, and a palette of eyeshadow with the other. “I was thinking some oranges and some reds, you know, to go with the suit.” 

“Okay, sounds good,” he says, taking the palette from her hand and scooping up the brush. “Sit on the bed?” 

She throws herself down, her bedsprings complaining as she does so, and Barry sits in her desk chair, wheeling himself over so he’s opposite. “Okay, I’ll start with a base, right?” 

She nods and leans forward, and he dabs the brush into a dark tone to match her skin colour and leans in to apply it. She’s remarkably still, which Barry guesses makes sense – she's probably used to Taako putting her makeup on for her. 

“So, how do you know how to apply makeup, Bluejeans?” She says, as he gets started. 

“Oh, well, I used to wear some myself. Back in my goth phase, you know.” 

She gasps. “Oh, my god, please tell me you have pictures. I need to see acne-ridden goth Bluejeans. Were you Barry Blackjeans back then? I bet you wore black denim, right?” 

He huffs a laugh. “I did, actually. And I was, like, twenty-five when I had my goth phase, so I didn’t have much acne. No pictures, though. I didn’t bring any on the mission.” He leans over to her other eye, and she turns her head to accommodate him. 

“You had your goth phase while you were working on your Ph.D?” Lup says, an enormous grin on her face. “Barry Bluejeans, you are full of surprises.” 

He laughs, and puts down the brush. “Okay, I’m gonna start with an orange? I promise I have a vision for this, you’re not just gonna end up with a whole mess of colour.” 

“I don’t know,” Lup says, closing one eye. “I’m sure I could pull off the rainbow look.” He hums in agreement, already applying the orange to her eyelid. “So, I have to say, it doesn’t seem like this is a skill you’d pick up from goth-ing yourself. Colour application isn’t a big goth skill.” 

“Well, I did my sisters’ makeup a bunch when I was a teenager. You know, they’d go out on dates and stuff and I’d help ‘em apply it. They went out with clown makeup more than once when I was first practicing, but I got better.” 

Lup goes quiet for a minute; the only sound in the room is them both breathing as Barry focuses on her makeup. She turns her face to allow him to paint the other eyelid. “You’ve got sisters?” 

He smiles sadly. “Yeah. Two. Barb and Beth.” 

“Barb, Beth, and Barry Bluejeans?” 

“You know that’s not actually our family name, Lup,” he laughs, looking down at the palette to decide which red would go best with the orange he’s selected. This isn’t something he normally likes to talk about, but he’s never been good at saying no to Lup. “But, they weren’t really called Barb and Beth, either. We all had these super pretentious names from our parents, you know? They insisted they were ancestral, so I got stuck with Sildar, Barb was Cervin, and Beth was Serife.” He looks up, and Lup’s tearing up a little. “Hey, don’t cry, you’ll ruin my hard work.” 

She dabs at the corner of her eye, trying not to smudge the makeup. “Sorry, Bear,” she sniffs. “Do you – miss them?” 

He sighs. “Yeah. Their birthdays, especially. We didn’t see each other a bunch, you know? They both had families and they lived far away, so we only got together a couple of times a year.” 

“You’ve got nieces and nephews?” 

“Oh, yeah, what seems like a hundred, sometimes. And they’ve all got totally normal names, too, like John and James and Sam. We all learnt our lessons from our parents’ mistakes.” He chuckles. “Did make it hard to remember who was who, though. Didn’t help that Barb and Beth were more or less identical, and all their kids looked exactly the fuckin’ same. Although, they were, like, three, when we left, so I guess there’s not that much to distinguish them.” 

Lup sniffs again, and Barry wipes at her eye this time and smiles, although it’s melancholy. “C’mon, Lup, it’s been a long time. I’m okay. And – maybe, one day, when we beat the Hunger, I’ll see ‘em all again, you know?” 

She nods. “Yeah, absolutely. There’s no maybe about it, Barry, I wanna meet the Bluejeans sisters.” 

He smiles, and leans back, the red finally applied. “Okay, all done. Take a look.” She turns to catch a glimpse of herself in the mirror on her desk. 

“Oh, shit,” she breathes. Barry had applied a sparkly orange, and layered it with a deep red, and as she turns her head it catches the light, seeming to dance like a candle flame. “You sure you haven’t been practicing? There’s no fuckin’ way you haven’t done this in the last fifty years.” He shrugs, feeling himself flush, and Lup laughs. “If this is what you can do when you’re out of practice, babe, I’m coming to you a lot more. Taako probably will, too, once he gets a look.” She takes another couple of seconds to admire it, before turning back to him. “Oh, shit, we should take a picture. Babe, this is fucking gorgeous, it needs to be recorded for posterity.” 

“Hold on,” he laughs, blushing profusely at the compliments. “You forgot the mascara.” 

She scowls. “Ugh. This is taking so long.” 

“I’ll try to hurry things along, _my lady,”_ he says, in a snooty voice. She giggles and leans in again. He brings out the mascara and gives her lashes a few swipes as she tries not to flinch away. 

He finally leans back, tossing the makeup to one side and stretching out. His back cracks loudly, and he winces, but Lup laughs. “Damn, that sounds like a broken spine, babe,” she jokes as she checks her lashes. Evidently, she approves, because she stands up and grabs her camera, conjuring a mage hand to hold it for her. “Hey, Bear, c’mon, get in here,” she says. 

He blinks. “Oh, really?” Even if Taako’s right, and Lup really does feel the same way, it’s hard to get over years of assuming he’s a plus-one to the rest of the crew, an extra, a seventh wheel. 

“Yeah, c’mon, you’re all dolled up too. Wouldn’t be much of a picture if it was just me alone, right?” 

He smiles and steps in next to her, and smiles at the camera. There’s a beat, and she snakes an arm around his waist, pulling him in even closer, and the camera’s bulb finally flashes as they grin. 

The camera prints out a full-sized photo, and Lup takes it, putting the camera back on the desk. She roots around in another of her drawers for a photo frame, and places the picture in it, shuffling the other photos around on her desk so the new one is given pride of place, front and centre. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! This chapter and the next are, I think, my favourites, so I really hope you enjoyed this one!! Please leave a comment and a kudos <3


	6. Chapter 6

As they leave the Starblaster parked in the shade of the castle, Lup’s hand finds his, and she squeezes. He knows it’s just to keep up appearances, but his heart beats a little faster anyways. “You okay, Bluejeans?” 

“Yeah, Lup. I’m great. Run over the backstory once more?” 

She laughs – they've done this a dozen times, but he wants to make sure they’ve got it perfect. “Sure. Pop quiz – when's our anniversary?” 

“The fifth,” he says. “Where did we first get together?” 

“The park in town. I asked you out on a picnic,” she says. “First kiss?” 

“After a dinner.” 

“Which restaurant, babe?” 

“Wait, uh,” he scratches his head. “Oh, the pizzeria, right?” 

Her eyes twinkle as she laughs. “Was it that forgettable?” 

“Nothing about you is forgettable,” he says, absently but meaning every word. Thankfully, she seems to take it as a joke, and she grins. 

“Damn right. You ready?” She raises her hand to knock on the castle’s enormous wooden door. 

He takes a deep breath and nods. “As I’ll ever be.” 

She slams the knocker into the door, and turns to give him a reassuring smile. “We got this, babe.” The door creaks open, and a butler bows. 

“Mister Bluejeans, Miss Taaco, please,” he gestures for them to come inside. “An honour to meet you. Lady Griffinsteed will be with you momentarily. In the meantime, can I direct you to the drawing room?” 

Lup says, “lead on, my man,” and the butler turns and sweeps away. Barry doesn’t let go of Lup’s hand as they follow him, entering into a room just off the main hallway filled with plush armchairs and lined with bookshelves. 

“Can I get sir and madam some drinks?” 

“No thanks,” Barry says, after a questioning glance at Lup. “We’re good. Thanks.” 

The butler sweeps back out of the room again, and Lup drops Barry’s hand to flop into an armchair, putting her head on one armrest and her feet slouched over the other. Barry walks to the bookshelves and starts examining the titles. 

“Anything catch your eye, babe?” 

“Eh,” Barry replies. “None we’ve not seen, really. But then, this probably isn’t her whole collection.” He finds the book he’s looking for and pulls it from the shelf. “Aha,” he says, and shows Lup. It’s a tome entitled ‘Advanced Glyphs and Wards.’ Barry sits on the chair next to her as she sits upright to read over his shoulder. He flips through the book, scanning titles and diagrams, until he finds what he’s been looking for. “This look familiar?” 

“Oh, yeah!” She says, after a moment. It's the unfamiliar glyph used to protect the Light in the castle’s vault. “Is there a counter-sign?” 

He frowns, skim-reading the page. “Doesn’t look like it. We might have to see if we can devise one. Maybe one from one of the other planes we’ve visited might work? I really don’t want to have to smash and grab and fight our way out, you know?” 

She hums in agreement, but at that moment the duchess breezes in. “Oh, my dears, you look absolutely dashing. Miss Taaco, I absolutely _adore_ your hair. Is that a style from another world?” 

“Fuck yeah,” Lup says. “From our home, actually. It’s called an undercut.” While the duchess is distracted, Barry opens a Demiplane – a tiny hole appears in space behind him, and he places the book into it, closing the rift before the duchess can notice. 

“And Mister Bluejeans, that suit looks positively wonderful. I must get the name of your tailor,” she continues, barely even registering Lup’s response. “Or is he an alien, too?” And she laughs, snobbishly, as if she expects either of them to join in. 

They exchange a look. This could be a long night. 

“So, I really must ask, your captain,” the duchess says. “Is he courting anyone? I’ve always had a weakness for men in uniform.” 

“Yes, I -” Barry starts to lie to defend their captain from this insane woman’s affection, but Lup cuts in. 

“Nope! Totally single.” 

He gives her a questioning look and she winks. _Trust me,_ the wink says, and Barry does. 

They’re seated around a huge, circular table. Barry and Lup are seated next to each other, the duchess on the opposite side, which Barry’s grateful for. Lup’s a comforting presence, and if they were all seated equidistant from each other he’d feel very exposed and alone. 

“Oh, I’ll bear that in mind,” the duchess grins almost predatorially, before waving down a servant. She turns to order more wine from him, and Lup leans in close to whisper to Barry. 

“Now we know she’s interested in cap’nport, we can offer him up as a distraction when we eventually do the heist,” she says into his ear, and he nods, but before he can reply, the duchess starts talking again, and Lup leans back in her chair. 

“In that same vein, I happen to know that your dwarf friend went home with one of the ladies from Skyhold, the other evening. Is there anything happening there that I should know about?” 

Lup looks faintly disgusted at the idea of Merle getting some, Barry thinks, which is fair. He’s kind of like one of their dads, so. “Uh, I don’t know. Merle isn’t the commitment type.” 

The duchess has spent all evening gossiping, mostly about the crew, and barely listening to the answers they give. The food isn’t even that good, and Barry’s sure Lup and Taako could’ve made something better. 

“What about that Taako? I know he’s your brother, Lup, but I have a number of ladies who’d just _love_ to be introduced.” 

Barry chuckles to himself. Obviously, she doesn’t remember Taako rebuffing her previously. It’s just bad luck that in her drunken state she had remembered Lup saying she and Barry were together. Or good luck, he thinks, as Lup squeezes his hand under the table. 

“Uh, he’s more into, uh, the gentlemen, I think,” Barry says. 

“Oh, that’s no trouble at all. The ladies will be disappointed, but I’m sure their husbands won’t!” She laughs uproariously, and never seems to notice that Lup and Barry don’t. 

“Anyways,” she continues. “I’d love to hear your story. You’re such a fascinating couple, how did you meet?” 

“Oh, you know, we were both selected for the mission,” Lup says. “And, well, I thought he was cute from the start, but – well, you know, I couldn’t say anything, we had to work together!” She laughs with the duchess this time. Barry smiles, but he’s wondering – how much of this is real? “So, I bottled it up, and told myself it’d only be two months. But then the world ended.” 

“She was always the most beautiful person in the room. In any room,” Barry says, not making a word of it up. “Of course I had a crush the moment I saw her.” 

“Aw, Bear,” Lup says, smiling tenderly at him. “So, I couldn’t - I wasn’t - I was never confident enough to tell him how I felt. And – I was so sure he didn’t feel the same, because he’d always pull away from me.” They make eye contact, and Barry gulps. 

“Lup, I – I didn’t want to freak you out.” 

“I get that now,” she says. “Of course I do.” 

Barry licks his dry lips. He’s getting tunnel vision – it's like the duchess isn’t even there, and it’s just the two of them. How much of this is real, he asks himself again. Does Lup know he’s being one hundred per cent genuine? 

“Anyway,” Lup continues, still looking at Barry even as she speaks to the duchess. “He - eventually, we – it just came to a point where we both finally _knew._ We both knew, I think for years, and neither of us... we never said anything.” Barry’s sure, now, that she’s speaking from the heart. She couldn’t fake the emotion in her voice, the affection in her eyes, the blush on her cheeks. “We - I was too scared. I didn’t want things to change. In case they changed for the worse. 

“But, the truth is, I -” Lup bites her lip for a second before continuing - “I felt this way for a long time. A long, long time. Taako was – he was absolutely sick of me always going on about how I wished you’d hold me in your arms, or how I wanted to kiss those lips -” She cuts herself off. 

For a moment, there’s nothing in the world except Barry and Lup. He stares into her eyes, and she stares into his. This is real, he knows it. Lup feels the same way. His heart feels light in his chest, and he’s elated in a way he didn’t even know was possible. 

She leans forward, and he finds himself doing so too. They inch closer together, her hand coming up to cup his cheek, and - 

The duchess says, “oh, that’s just adorable! That reminds me of my first husband! We met on a cruise...” 

And the spell is broken. Lup takes her hand from his face and looks away as the duchess babbles, and she sinks into her chair, a deep blush on her cheeks. Barry watches her for a moment longer, but eventually he too looks away. 

“Lup!” Barry calls. 

Things between them had been weird, after their mutual confessions. Lup had been uncharacteristically quiet, leaving Barry to fill the holes in the conversation with the duchess. After the meal ended, she’d made excuses and left, barely waiting for him. 

He scurries down the path after her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Lup, hey, what’s up?” 

She turns to look at him and smiles, but it’s so obviously fake that he flinches back. “Nothing, Barry. Don’t worry.” 

“Lup, I -” 

“Barry, it’s nothing.” She says it so harshly that he’s stunned for a moment. Barry licks his dry lips, standing stock-still as she walks away. 

Had he misinterpreted everything? 

Maybe she’d been pretending. Maybe she’d said all that as part of their cover, and she’d realised at the last moment how genuine he was being. Maybe she’d been horrified, disgusted, regretful. Maybe she didn’t even want to be friends with him, any more. Barry Bluejeans, lech. 

He watches her hurry away down the path, leaving him behind, and he wonders – is this it? All this time, he’s been pining, wishing for more, too scared to say anything for fear of exactly this. Is this how their fifty year friendship ends? 

No. 

He won’t believe that. He’s been lying to himself for too long. Taako’s words of advice had shocked him into recognising it, but really, he’s known for a long time. 

_Lup loves him too._

“Lup, I – I was being genuine.” 

He calls it after her as she power-walks away, her long legs taking her further away with every second, but as he says it she stops, paralysed. 

“Everything I said, I – I meant it. It’s - this isn’t an act, for me. It’s - this is real, Lup, it’s the most real thing in the world. I – Lup, I -” 

She turns, and there are tears in her eyes. “Barry, are – is this -” 

“Lup, that was everything I’ve wanted to say to you for years, fucking _decades,_ Lup, and I was never confident enough –” 

Lup’s on him in an instant, her arms around his neck and her lips on his. 

For a moment, he’s lost. Her lips are soft, warm, and _her._ Even in his most wild dreams he couldn’t have imagined the sensation - 

He kisses her back, putting his arm around her waist, revelling in the taste of her, the feeling of her body against his, her warmth. 

Eventually, she pulls back from the kiss, breathing heavily, practically gasping for air. 

“Huh,” she says. 

“Hah,” he grins. 

“I - I’m sorry,” she says. “I - I _knew_ it was real, but there was a moment -” 

“Hey, it’s fine,” he says. “I’ve had that sensation for, like, forty years, Lup.” 

“Yeah, this has been a while coming, huh?” She smiles, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek. “Wanna, uh, head back to the ‘Blaster and talk about it?” 

“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, that sounds good.” 

He offers her his hand, and she takes it, and for the first time, Barry isn’t left wondering if it’s real. 

“I think we should talk,” she says, “like mature, responsible adults.” 

“Mhm?” He grunts, as he kisses her neck, revelling in the way she arches her back every time his lips come into contact with her flesh. 

“Yeah,” she pants. “It can’t all be – can't all be kiss, kiss, kiss. You know? Emotions – emotions have gotta factor in somewhere.” She stops talking to lean down and kiss him again, her lips on his. 

He nips her neck one final time before leaning back. “Okay,” he says. “What do you wanna talk about?” 

She’s straddling him on the desk chair in her room, her ass on his lap and her arms around his neck. They’ve both taken off their jackets and draped them over her desk. Barry’s done the same with his bow tie and unbuttoned the stiff collar, so he’s a little more comfortable. “I dunno,” she says. “I hoped you’d have an idea of what mature, responsible adults said in relationships.” 

“I thought it was all about kissing, Lup, honestly,” he says, and leans back in again, but she puts a hand on his forehead. 

“Wait, wait, there’s plenty of time for that,” she says. “Loving the energy, though, babe.” 

He laughs. “Okay, seriously, what’s up?” 

“Like, boundaries, right?” She says, and he can tell she’s trying to be nonchalant. “Like, uh, when are we gonna fuck?” 

He chokes on thin air, his eyes wide. She’s sat in his lap and she says _that?_ “Wha - is that -” 

“That’s not a proposition!” She protests. “I just – I don’t - I don’t think we should right away.” 

He leans back, a serious look forming on his face. “Okay,” he says. “Whatever you want.” 

She examines his face. “You sure?” 

“Yeah, Lup, whatever you’re comfortable with. We don’t ever have to, y’know, if that’s what you want -” 

“Oh, babe, no way. I _definitely_ want to,” she teases, a salacious grin forming on her face. “Just – I think we should take it slow.” 

“Slower than forty years?” He teases, and she grins, but then continues. 

“Okay, but, like, I tend to just fall into bed with people, right? I’m not sure I’ve ever dated before. And I wanna get the full experience. You gotta wine and dine me, first, babe.” 

“I can wine you right now, if that’s what you want,” he suggests. 

“Oh, _fuck_ yes. Grab the good stuff from Taako’s cabinet, he won’t be mad if I say it was me who took it.” 

Barry disappears down the corridor briefly, reappearing with a bottle of red wine in his hand. She examines the label and gives him a grin. “Pour me out a glass, babe.” 

He does, handing it to her and starting one of his own. She takes a swig before lying down on the bed, putting the glass on the bedside table, and he takes his seat on the desk chair again. “So, okay, boundaries,” he says. “You don’t wanna – uh. You don’t want to sleep with me right away, that’s cool. What about telling the others?” 

“Eh,” she says. “I don’t care if they know. But you do, right?” 

“Yeah,” he replies, grateful that she understands. “I dunno. I just – I want to make sure this is permanent first.” 

She nods. “Okay, that’s fair. For what it’s worth, I – it seems pretty permanent. I – this has been something I’ve quite literally dreamt about for years.” 

“Me too. Permanent’s not the right word, either. I just – I want us to be comfortable before we tell anyone else,” he says. There’s a few beats of silence, and he asks, “did you, uh, did you mean it when you said you thought I was cute? From before the mission?” 

She giggles. “I mean, at first I thought, ‘who’s that nerd in the jeans?’ But then, you know, I spoke to you, and you were – you were so earnest and interested and intelligent but also, like, _so_ anxious. Yeah. It was pretty cute.” 

He laughs. “I was pretty nervous. In my defence, everyone in that room was either a genius or absolutely drop-dead beautiful. Or both, in most cases.” 

She smiles. “I mean, yeah. True dat. Obviously I’m the more attractive twin, but Taako’s okay lookin’, and Lucy’s pretty hot. Magnus goes without saying, you know? Wow. What a man.” 

“Even Davenport, you know, he’s got a kind of a DILF thing going -” 

“Really,” Lup purrs, drawing the syllables out. “Barry Bluejeans is into DILFS?” 

He’s sure he’s absolutely scarlet. “Lup, I -” She raises an eyebrow, silently, a smirk on her face. “Wha - this isn’t fair. You can’t go from making out with me to mocking me that fast, I can’t keep up.” 

She laughs, and does a very undignified sit-up until she’s upright with her legs crossed under her. “Okay, I’ll mock you later. Come back over here and kiss me again, first.” Barry leans in and pecks her on the cheek. She pouts. “Properly, Bluejeans.” 

He moves off the chair and sits next to her on the bed, pressing his lips to hers. Her hands come up to rest on his chest, and he finds that his has moved of its own accord to the back of her neck. His breathing comes shallow and fast, but it’s like time has slowed around him as he kisses her. He pulls away, gasping for breath. 

She’s got a wide grin on her face, and he’s sure he’s got the same, lovestruck expression. “Did you really tell Taako you wanted to kiss me?” He says, still slightly disbelieving, and she laughs. 

“Only, like, every day. ‘Oh, Taako,’” she fake-swoons, the back of one hand pressed to her forehead, “’when is Barry going to come take me in those big, strong arms? Oh, ‘Ko, I just wish he’d look at me the same way!’ All that kind of garbage. I’m surprised he put up with it.” 

“Do you wanna know something fucking hysterical?” Barry chortles. “He’s known how I feel since the beach year.” 

Lup gapes. “The - the swine! This whole time he’s known? And he didn’t say anything to me?” 

Barry laughs until his sides ache and tears stream from his eyes. He can’t help it; Lup’s indignant face is hysterical. She quickly gets over her outrage, and laughs with him. 

Barry dabs at his eyes with his sleeve. “Okay, to be fair, he did, uh, give me a nudge. That’s what he called it, but he basically ordered me to ask you out.” 

“Wait, really?” Lup says, a devilish twinkle forming in her eye. “Barry, you _know_ we gotta fuck with him now, right?” 

“Lup, I -” 

“C’mon, please?” 

He never could say no to her, even before she was bribing him with kisses. “Okay, sure. What do you wanna do, tell him it went horrendously?” 

“Yeah, I’ll think of something. Come over here and kiss me again, first. I’ve got forty years of lost time to make up for.” 

He grins. That’s exactly how he feels. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :0
> 
> I intended this to be more slowburn-y than this, but it was such a cute scene I just couldn't resist...  
> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this, please leave a comment if you did!! I promise there's tonnes of soft Blupjeans coming up!


	7. Chapter 7

Barry’s resting his head in his hands when Taako walks in. He doesn’t look up. 

“Hey, Bluejeans, what’s up?” He asks. 

Barry looks up and blinks, like he hadn’t heard Taako come in. “Wha - oh, Taako. Nothing.” 

Taako raises an eyebrow. “Late night in the lab, again? No, wait, you had that dinner last night, right? Did Lup keep you up all night?” He waggles his eyebrows suggestively, but Barry – Barry visibly sags, and maybe Taako’s going soft, but he feels _awful._ “Hey, Barold, seriously. What’s up?” 

“Nothing,” he mumbles, but a second later continues, “Lup said no.” 

Taako’s eyes widen, his eyebrows shooting up so high they almost disappear into his hairline. “What?” 

“I - I asked her out after the dinner. She said no.” 

“What? Barry, what, what did you say?” 

“Nothing,” he says. “Just - asked if she wanted to go out. I said, uh, I know it’s bad timing cos we just ate, but do you -” he sniffles - “do you wanna get dinner some time? And she said no, and then she went away. So.” 

“Fantasy Christ, Barold. Cha’boy’ll talk to her. Hold on, okay?” Taako turns and walks out of the room, but then he remembers the bread he has in the oven, so he turns around and walks back in again, switching the oven off. “Okay, now I’m gonna talk to her.” 

Okay, so maybe Taako feels a _little_ bad about this situation. He’s the one who told Barry to ask Lup out, after all, so whatever went wrong, he should help put it right. It’s for his own good, mostly, he doesn’t want to have to live with them both being angsty and sad for the next thirty years or whatever. Yeah. It’s for entirely selfish reasons. He doesn’t care about whether they get together or not. 

He heads down the halls straight to Lup’s room, knocking only once before barging in. “Lup, what the _fuck,”_ he says, but he stops dead, instantly feeling terrible - she’s in bed, still, her covers pulled right up around her neck. She’s still wearing last night’s makeup, the mascara all streaked, running in tear-marks down her face. “Jesus. What – what the fuck happened? You said no to Barold?” 

Lup opens her mouth, but a sob wracks her body, and she covers her face. Taako shuts the door and sits at the foot of her bed, placing what he hopes is a comforting hand on her leg. Another sob. “Lulu, I -” 

A third sob cuts him off, and he frowns. That sounds suspiciously like - 

“Are you laughing?” He demands. “What’s fucking happening here?” 

“No, no, Ko, I’m distraught, I promise,” Lup says, still covering her face, but he knows his twin’s voice well enough to tell she’s grinning. 

“You - you utter – Barold's in on this, isn’t he? You two -” 

The door opens, and Barry grins, sheepishly. “She was meant to keep it up for longer than that.” 

“I couldn’t help it, Barry, the streaky makeup was too fucking much. Ko, your _face,_ my gods, I’ve never seen anything so funny -” Lup dissolves in laughter. 

“You - Barold, I can’t believe you pulled the wool over my eyes like this! I’ve been – I – I've done nothing but help you for the last forty-five years,” he stammers out, so outraged he can’t string a sentence together. “Lup, you absolute -” 

“Aw, I’m sorry, Koko,” she says, the laughter finally dying down. “This is what you get for not telling me, though. I can’t believe that this whole time I was talking about how I wanted to suck Barry’s face off, and you _knew_ that he wanted that too, and you didn’t say a _word_!” 

“You - next time, Barold, I’m not gonna help you. I’ll leave you two nerds to sort it out for the next fifty years. If this is what I get for helping, Taako’s good out here.” 

“I’m sorry, Taako,” Barry says. “It was fucking funny though. It took us hours to get the makeup running just right like that.” 

“So, what, you two goofuses are together now? Am I gonna have to put up with this shit all the time?” He demands, but he knows they can both tell he’s delighted about it. 

Lup looks over at Barry and they both shrug. “I dunno. We’re taking it a bit slow. Don’t tell anyone, yeah? But I can tell you, Koko, that we did a _lot_ of making out.” 

He clamps his hands over his ears. “I do not want to hear this! I’m fucking leaving! You two are the absolute worst!” He storms past Barry, but the effect is ruined by the grin on his face. 

“Congratulations,” he says, poking his head back into the room. “Finally.” 

And then he disappears. 

Lup and Barry are still laughing about it even as they start the day’s lab work. 

“Gods, Bear, I wish you could’ve seen his face. I’ve never seen him so -” She wipes a tear from her eye, and Barry grins at her, leaning in for a peck on the cheek. 

It’s weird, to just want to kiss her and then do it. He keeps finding himself avoiding touching her, giving her space, not looking at her too often – it's a forty-year-old habit, at this point, and breaking it is taking some getting used to. 

Lup shrugs on her lab coat, and Barry follows suit. “So, I was thinking we could try some counter-sigils on that one they’re using to guard the Light.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Lup says. “Let’s see that book again?” 

Barry reaches out into the air as if to pluck an imaginary book from an imaginary shelf, but as his hand closes, the book becomes tangible and solid, and he opens it to the page with the familiar rune. 

“Here,” he says. “Looks like it’s got some pretty serious negative effects – dizziness, confusion, nausea. It’s not lethal, but whoever gets whammied by it isn’t gonna be able to fight their way out of the vault.” 

Lup nods. “So we defo need a counter-sign.” 

“Okay, wait, I have a plan,” Barry says, and starts rifling through drawers to find the smallest paintbrush they own. “Okay, so – I'm gonna paint it on this beaker, and we can put some counter-glyphs up and see if any work.” He paints the glyph on the bottom of the glass, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrates. It flashes a deep red briefly as he completes the rune, and he looks up to find Lup smiling at him. “What?” 

“Nothing,” she says. “You’re just cute.” 

He can feel the heat rising to his cheeks, so he just brushes his fringe out of his eyes and says, “which rune shall we start with?” 

“Dispel magic would seem like a safe bet, right? Although, I don’t know. The rune wouldn’t be much good if one that simple neutralised it.” 

“Eh,” he says. “As good a place to start as any.” He leans back in again, painting the rune for dispel magic on the side of the beaker, and grabs up a hammer he’d taken from the store room. “And now for the fun part. Human testing.” 

Lup looks concerned, but before she can object, he brings the hammer down on the beaker. It flexes like rubber, the rune on the bottom of the glass glowing angrily, and hurls him backwards across the room. He smashes into a desk, scattering paperwork everywhere, and falls on his ass on the floor. 

Suffice it to say, the Dispel Magic didn’t work. 

He mentally scans his body, searching for any cuts or broken bones. His brain compiles an eloquent report: “ow, fuck.” 

“Jesus, Barry, are you okay?” Lup scurries over to him, kneeling beside him, checking his head for wounds. 

“Yeah, I think – oh boy. I’m okay, but they weren’t joking about the dizziness. Jesus.” He blinks, but his vision doesn’t clear. Instead, it starts to swim, as if he’s on a boat in a storm, and when he shakes his head, there’s suddenly multiple Lups swimming in his vision. “Wow, okay.” 

“Barry, I can’t believe you did that,” she says, and he guesses that’s fair. 

“We knew it wasn’t fatal,” he protests, weakly. From the way she’s scowling, it’s pretty clear that excuse hasn’t worked. 

“C’mon,” she says. “We’re getting you back to your room.” He opens his mouth to object, but closes it again when all four Lups in front of him give him a sharp look. “You can come back once you’ve read up on lab safety, Bluejeans.” 

He smiles remorsefully. “Okay, Lup. I might – uh, I’m gonna need a hand getting up, though.” 

She stands, leaning down to offer him a hand, which he clasps gratefully (although a little cautiously, because his hand-eye coordination is shot). She pulls him up, and holds him by the elbow. He staggers almost immediately as the ground lurches sickeningly, and he has to bite back bile. 

“Oh, fuck, I regret everything,” he says. “Lup, gods, you were right.” 

“Natch,” she says, but the frustration in her voice has dissipated, to be replaced with concern. “You okay?” 

“Yeah, I think – I think I’m okay to walk. Go slow, though?” 

Barry’s vision deteriorates with every step until he’s just seeing colourful blurs, as if he’d forgotten his glasses. The floor seems to tilt violently with every step, and it feels almost as if he’s defying gravity to walk on the walls. It's utterly sickening. 

He’s practically swaying with every step, and Lup has given up on holding his elbow to wrap an arm around his waist and support his upper body with her own. “Almost there, Bear, it’s okay,” she says, soothingly. 

A new multicoloured blob appears at the end of the corridor and Barry squints, but he can’t make out who it is until Taako’s voice rings out. “You guys are big on the PDA, huh? I thought you were keeping this on the DL?” 

“Fuck off, Taako,” Lup says, from beside him. Barry opens his mouth to say something, but almost throws up, so he closes his mouth again. “Barry got hit by some spell. He’s gonna collapse if I let go of him.” 

“What spell? Lup, what did he do to deserve this treatment?” 

“What - Taako, I didn’t do this! He did it himself.” 

“A likely story,” Taako says, and even though Barry can’t see him he can _hear_ the shit-eating grin. 

“Open the fucking door, Ko.” 

Taako sighs, and opens the door to Barry’s room, and Lup helps him through the doorway, slamming the door with her foot before Taako can formulate another witty comment. She helps Barry down onto the bed, and he lies back, taking his glasses off and placing them on the nightstand. He misses, and Lup chuckles, bending down to grab them off the floor for him. “How you feeling, Bear?” 

Lying down has helped his stomach, but his vision hasn’t improved, and he’s somehow managing to feel dizzy even while horizontal. “A little better. Thanks, Lup.” 

He doesn’t see her sit next to him, but he feels the bed shift as she plonks herself down. She places a hand on his forehead and hums a little nervously. “You feel a bit warm, but I don’t know. Humans always feel warm to me.” 

“It didn’t list fever as a symptom in the book, right?” He asks. “Wait, did it say how long this’d last? Gods, I hope it’s temporary.” 

“I could go grab the book from the lab,” she says, and Barry curses himself for not thinking to bring it. “Or I could get Merle, see what he thinks.” 

“I’m okay, Lup. I’ll give it a bit, see if it goes on its own.” 

“Okay, Bear,” she says, but she doesn’t move. 

“You, uh – you don’t have to stay,” he says. It wouldn’t be fair of him to expect her to keep him company when there’s work that needs doing, especially not when they don’t know how long this’ll last. 

“Oh, shush, Barry,” she says, kissing his hand. “It’s fine. I want to.” 

He smiles at her (or, in her general direction, at least) and wriggles over, patting the pillow. “Wanna cuddle?” 

She breathes a laugh, and he feels her shuffle on the bed until her head is next to his. It’s a single bed, so it’s a tight squeeze, but all that means is that they have to cling onto each other to keep from falling off, which Barry isn’t exactly upset by. 

“I can’t believe you hit the fucking thing,” she says. “I was about to suggest we got a Mage Hand to do it, but you smacked it with a hammer before I could even get the words out.” 

He can feel himself blushing. “Okay, listen,” he says, before realising he doesn’t really have a defence and tailing off. She laughs. 

“I’m listening.” 

“Shut up,” he mumbles. 

She presses a kiss to his forehead, and they fall into silence again, just holding each other. He closes his eyes to block out the confusing kaleidoscope of colour, and focuses on her relaxed, slow, deep breaths. 

“I - I’m really glad we said something,” he says. “We - we’ve been missing out on this for so long.” 

She hums in agreement. “Just means we have to make up for lost time.” 

“Gods, you’re right,” he says, and opens his eyes, trying to kiss her lips, but misses in the confused haze that is his vision, landing on her chin. “Fuck.” 

She takes pity on him and guides his face to hers, and they kiss, and – Barry's still not used to that. He doesn’t know if he ever will be. 

She eventually rolls off him, and his lips are tingling but he wants more. He whines, and she laughs. “Chill, Bear, I’m gonna get you some water. As good as the kisses are, I’m meant to be looking after you.” 

She walks towards the little basin in the corner of his room and he hears the tap running. He props himself upright as she slips back into bed, passing him the glass. He mumbles a thanks and takes a sip. He takes another couple of gulps, and then passes it back to her. She puts it back on the bedside table for him and sits back next to him, running her hand through her hair. Maybe he does feel warm; her hand is like ice, but it’s nice as she gently scratches his scalp. 

“You feeling better?” 

He hums, his eyes still closed. His stomach is still churning slightly, but Lup is the ultimate cure-all. He can’t imagine being sad when she’s there. She untangles her hand from his hair and lies down, curled up around him so her head is on his chest. The weight of her is comforting and reassuring somehow; even in the nauseating world of unfocused haze Barry currently resides in, Lup’s there with him. 

His breathing slows in time with hers, and he runs a hand through her hair, and she groans quietly in appreciation. He places his other arm over her back, cuddling her closer to him, and she runs her fingers lazily over his skin, and they fall asleep like that, intertwined and together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment and a kudos I love you ok bye


	8. Chapter 8

Barry wakes, slowly coming back to consciousness, to find a weight on his chest that he can’t explain. He blinks, looking down at himself, but it’s like looking through a funhouse mirror – everything is distorted and confused. He starts to worry that the glyph he’d been hit by had had more serious repercussions than he’d assumed, but remembers he took his glasses off to sleep. He grabs them and pulls them on, and finds Lup, curled up and asleep on him. Her head is on his chest, her legs entwined in his, her arms wrapped around his chest.

He watches as her chest rises and falls. She stirs in her sleep, mumbling something incomprehensible to herself. He smiles. How had he ever got so lucky?

A couple of minutes pass before he starts to get uncomfortable. One of his arms is trapped under her body, and the pins and needles are starting to get painful, so he gently shakes her shoulder with his free hand.

“Hey,  Lup ,” he says, gently. “Hey, wakey wakey.”

She mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like “fuck off,” but Barry doesn’t relent.

“Hey, c’mon, wake up. I’ll give you as many kisses as you like,” he wheedles.

Her eyes slowly flutter open, and she says, “I’m holding you to that.” Her voice is soft and sleepy and Barry loves it. He leans down to peck her on the lips, and she smiles. “Nice way to be woken up.”

He hums in agreement, and she wriggles until she’s in a position to kiss him again, before sitting up and swinging her legs out of bed. “Oh, man, how are you doing, Bear? The spell worn off yet?”

“Yeah, I think so. My vision’s back to normal, but I haven’t tried standing yet.” She rolls of the bed and stands up, patting herself down in an effort to de-crumple her t-shirt as best as possible, and offers him a hand, which he takes, and heaves himself up, leaning on her hand as he takes an experimental step. The world fails to turn upside down, and he looks around, testing his balance. “Huh. Yeah. Think I’m okay, actually.”

She smiles, and doesn’t let go of his hand. “Well, better safe than sorry.”

“You’re right,” he says. “Maybe you should – uh, insert kiss of life joke here. I couldn’t make it work in time.”

She laughs, stepping in closer for a kiss, and he wraps his arms around her waist and doesn’t let go even after she surfaces for air, just enjoying her being close to him. She rests her head on his shoulder and hums contentedly. “This is nice.”

He nods in agreement, and revels in the hug for a little while longer, before saying, “c’mon. I guess we should get back to the lab.”

She immediately frowns at him. “You know you’re getting a lecture, right? I let you off lightly earlier because you were injured. Now you’re all healed up there’s nothing stopping me.”

He stumbles. “Uh oh. I’m definitely feeling woozy again.”

She looks concerned for a second before she catches the joke, slugging him in the shoulder. “You dick, I was worried about you.”

He chuckles. “No, okay, seriously, it was dumb. I won’t do it again, I promise. We’ll get a Mage Hand to do it next time.”

She squints at him, and, seemingly satisfied with the repentant look he’s giving her, says, “fine. You’re on thin fucking ice, though, Barold.”

He kisses her forehead and finally breaks the hug, and they start heading back towards the lab.

“Okay, so, Mage Hands it is,” he says. “Although, it’ll be hard to tell if any side effects remain, that way, so we might have to do human testing again after -” Lup shoots him a look. “If we don’t, whoever breaks the glass in the actual heist might get some side effects!” He protests. “I’ll do it safely this time, promise.”

“Okay, fine. You can do more testing on yourself after we find a  sigil that neutralises it,”  Lup says. “Gods, if I’d known you were so  self-destructive, I’d have asked you out years ago. We’re only going to have a limited time together at this rate, and I wanna make the most of it.”

Barry chuckles and rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry. I just didn’t think. I saw ‘non-lethal’ in the book and I was immediately like ‘hammer time.’” He pushes the door to the lab open and winces. It’s a mess. He hadn’t realised just what a state they’d left it in; one of the desks has been knocked on  its side from where Barry crashed into it, and there’s paperwork scattered everywhere from both the original shockwave and his crash-landing.

“Dumbass,”  Lup says, kissing him on the forehead before heading off to get lab coats and goggles. “But it’s  _ my  _ dumb ass and that’s what’s important.”

He feels himself flush, and so he covers it up by kissing her again. “Okay, any other ideas for runes?”

“No way,  Bluejeans , it was my suggestion that got you launched across the lab. You pick this time.”

He hums, deep in thought. “I bet that ‘unlock’ rune from a couple of cycles ago will do it. Or maybe the Knock spell rune? That one unlocks stuff. Maybe we should combine one of those with a Dispel Magic?”

She writes the ideas down on the chalkboard. “Okay, sounds good to me. Start out with the unlock?”

Barry roots around in the piles of paper scattered over the floor from his last explosive test until he finds the glass. He scrapes the paint of the dispel magic rune off, replacing it with the  sigil for unlock.

“Now come over here,”  Lup says. “You’re standing a safe distance away from it this time.”

She summons a mage hand that drums its fingers with exaggerated impatience as it waits for Barry to come and stand next to  Lup , before grabbing up the hammer he’d used previously.

“Okay, goggles, babe.” Barry sighs exaggeratedly but pulls the clunky goggles on over his glasses, handing a pair to Lup, too. She puts them on and blows a kiss as her Mage Hand smacks the hammer into the beaker at full force.

The hand dissipates in the wave of force the beaker emits, and the hammer is sent flying across the room. Barry  _ feels  _ it brush through his hair, ducking under a table way too late. “Jesus,” he says, as the dust settles.

“Hmm. Okay. Next time maybe we should do this outdoors.”

“Test three – Knock sigil!” Lup calls, marking it on the board. “Begin!”

Her Mage Hand gives her a thumbs up and grabs the hammer. Lup and Barry both duck behind a table.

This time, they’re in a field outside the  Starblaster , with two tables set up – one with the beaker, one thirty feet away on  its side, acting as a blast shield.

They hear the now familiar  _ whoomph  _ of air as the shockwave blasts the hand.  Lup pokes her head above the parapets after it seems like everything’s calmed down, and Barry follows suit. They both scowl when they see the beaker, still intact. “Fuck.”

He plucks the pen from her hand and puts an X in the Knock  sigil column. “Okay, maybe it’s time to try some weird shit. What about transmuting the glass? Do we think the spell will protect against that?”

Lup hums curiously. “Maybe. You want me to call Taako?”

“Wait, let’s try something else first. This is pretty much  kill or cure.” Barry walks back over to the beaker, grabbing the paintbrush again, and draws on the  sigil for Dispel Magic and the unlock rune they’d previously tried, without erasing the Knock spell rune.

“Jeez, you’re not kidding. Do we know if these spells will actually work together?”

Barry chuckles. “No, but, like, worst case scenario is they explode? And that might destroy the glass anyway. So.”

Lup frowns. “Worst case scenario is it kills us both.”

“ Lup , c’mon, we’ll be all the way over there.”

She still looks doubtful, so Barry writes “test four – Knock + Dispel Magic + Unlock” on the chalkboard, grinning at her. “C’mon, you love exploding things.”

“I do love exploding things,” she says, reluctantly. “Okay, fine.”

“Nice,” he says, and summons his own Mage Hand. It’s an appropriately denim blue, compared to  Lup’s red-orange spectral  appendages . It scoops up the hammer from the field where it fell, and waits for them to duck behind the table again.

This time, they don’t hear that familiar  _ whoomph _ , instead hearing the unmistakeable shattering of glass. __ They almost celebrate, until the thing explodes.

Broken glass rains down on them, and Barry’s suddenly thankful  Lup insisted on wearing goggles. “Shit. At least the glass is broken.”

Lup laughs. “Yeah, but it wasn’t exactly stealthy. I don’t know if that’s any good for the heist.”

“We could always cast a Silence!” He protests.

“Bear, we’re  gonna be in the room when the glass shatters.”

He looks at the fragments of glass that had exploded out of the beaker like shrapnel from a grenade. “Okay, let’s try the transmutation thing.”

Taako steps into the field, examining the replacement beaker they’ve brought out. “Yeah,  cha’boy can magic this up real nice, no sweat.” He looks at them. “But it’s  gonna be harder in the real thing. It’s a big glass case, and it’ll take, like, maybe half an hour to transmute the whole thing.”

“Half an hour? Ko,” Lup starts.

“Lulu, it should be nearly a whole hour. I’m pushing the limits of what’s possible, because,  ch’yeah ,  Taako’s a dope ass  transmuter , but half an hour is non-negotiable.”

“Shit. That’ll slow us down,” Lup says.

“Hold on, we don’t even know if it’s possible yet. There’s no point thinking about hypotheticals.  Taako , want to do the honours?” Barry says.

Taako throws the beaker into the air end over end, and it glitters as it spins, catching the light. As it lands in his hand again, Barry realises – it's solid silver. “Well, it hasn’t exploded.”

“It doesn’t normally until we try to break it. That’s when the  sigil activates. So, uh, you might  wanna come down here,” Barry says, indicating the table. With all three of them, it’s a tighter fit, but they manage to squeeze in. Lup’s squished in between him and Taako, and so she squeezes his knee softly. He grins, and his Mage Hand smacks the cup with the hammer.

There’s no reaction, so he pokes his head up just enough to peek at it. There’s a huge dent in the side. He brings the hammer down again, and the cup ruptures easily. He braces for the explosion, but – nothing happens. “Hey, nice, it worked!”

“Fuck yeah,  Taako one, nerds nil,”  Taako says.

Lup scowls at him. Barry just laughs.

The entire crew is grouped up, sat in the common room. Davenport and Lucretia are sat at the table, Barry and  Lup opposite them. Magnus is sprawled over the couch. Merle is watering his plants, and  Taako is curled up like a cat in the only armchair.

“So, we think we have all the components needed for our heist, now?” Davenport asks.

Lup nods. “We know where it is, we know how to get it. The only thing now is opportunity.”

“And extraction,” Magnus adds. “Getting it out is going to be tough. There’re no windows down there, and you’d need to carry the Light through corridors that could be full of people.”

“Well, we can help with the distraction, right?” Barry glances at  Lup . “When we were having dinner with the duchess,  Lup told her you were single.”

Davenport sighs, heavily, immediately understanding what’s expected of him. “Thanks for that, Lup.”

“Hey, she asked! I didn’t just volunteer the information.”

“Well, that’s my role, I guess,” Davenport says. “Where’s everyone else during this?”

“I need to grab the thing,”  Taako says. “Since I’m the dope-ass transmutation expert upon whom this entire plan rests.” There’s a collective eye-roll. “I just have one request – can I rappel down from the ceiling like in Fantasy Mission Impossible?”

“Okay, so  Taako and who else?” Davenport asks, ignoring Taako’s interjection.

Lup looks at Barry. “I think we’re the best choice, right? We  wanna keep the heist team small so they don’t notice we’re gone, but big enough to fight the guards in the Light chamber, and me and Barry have the best excuse for being out of the main party if we’re caught, anyways.” She grins. “We can just say we were, y’know, getting down and dirty.”

Barry can feel himself flush at the very  _ idea.  _ He nods, anyway, though. “Yeah, that makes sense. Davenport keeps the duchess busy, everyone else acts flashy at the party, we sneak in.”

Taako yawns. “Okay, sure,” he says. “But how do we get the Light out again? Might be a little too big to fit under a sweater.”

Davenport frowns. “As Magnus pointed out, we’re going to have to carry it. Maybe, rather than take it through the entrance, someone else could fly the Starblaster, and go up to the castle’s roof -”

“No,” Lucretia says, cutting Davenport off. “There’s no way it could get close enough to the castle. They’d see or hear the ship. I can’t see any way to hide it, even with your illusion magic.”

The captain scowls and nods. “You’re right. Too risky. What other options are there? Cast an invisibility? Teleport?”

Lup nods. “I think teleport is the only way, right? I don’t want to try and carry the Light down narrow castle corridors filled with partiers. So we’ll need to get in, wait for Taako to transmute the glass, set up the circle and teleport out.”

Magnus nods. “How long will the circle take?”

“Less than half an hour, which is how long we’ll need for  Taako to transmute the glass. The only problem is, at least one of us will have to stay to scuff out the runes, or else anyone will be able to follow us,” Barry answers.

“Okay, so, the plan is:  Taako ,  Lup and Barry sneak away while the rest of us run interference. They transmute the glass, get the Light, and  Taako teleports out with the Light while  Lup and Barry stay behind to ruin the circle,” Davenport says. “Because  Lup and Barry have the better excuse for hiding out in the corridors.”

Everyone nods or shrugs, and so Davenport stands from the table. “Meeting adjourned. Sounds like we have a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some Blupjeans cuddles and some heist prep!! I hope you enjoyed this, please leave a comment and a kudos if you did <3
> 
> Next chapter is the heist!


	9. Chapter 9

Barry, Taako and Lup are dressed down in matching black tuxedos, bow ties, and white shirts. Okay, so maybe not  _ dressed down,  _ but they’re certainly less eye-catching than they have been at previous parties.

They’re all trying to stick together.  Taako rolls his eyes at every “accidental” touch, and, at one point, he’d whisper-shouted at them for five minutes when he’d turned away to get a drink and turned back to find them desperately making out. Barry had been sufficiently chagrined, and had promised not to do it again, although he’s already broken that promise twice. They’d just been more stealthy about it. It’s not his fault – Lup's pretty irresistible at the best of times, and she’s been giving him some serious eyes.

Anyway, the point is, they’re in, and the plan is underway. Now, they’re just waiting for an opportunity.  Lup’s keeping an eye on the guards.  Taako’s watching the doors. Barry’s spying on the duchess.

It’s an agonising wait. Barry’s not good at covert action; his palms are already sweaty and he keeps having to pull his hand from Lup’s to wipe them on his suit. But, finally, Davenport gives the signal. He puts a hand on the duchess’ arm and laughs uproariously, and if Barry didn’t know the gnome so well, he’d never have known it was fake. She turns, and leads their captain out.

Barry turns to  Lup and grabs her by the sleeve.  Lup turns to  Taako and does the same. All three of them glance around, and, satisfied no one’s looking, they nod.

And they vanish.

They’ve been keeping close to a wall so they don’t have to navigate the ballroom invisible. Keeping a tight hold of one another, they sidle along towards the door, and slip through just as the guards open it for Davenport and the duchess.

“Of course,” she says, taking Davenport by the hand, “I’m always delighted to show my treasures off. It’s just  _ delightful  _ that you’re taking such an interest.” Davenport opens his mouth to speak, but she continues. “And after you’ve seen my collection once already, too! You just had to come back, right? My treasures are wonderful like that. Sometimes, I just sit down there for hours and gaze at them.” The captain opens his mouth once more, but the duchess cuts him off again. “And, of course, I might see my way clear to showing you some restricted items...”

Davenport finally gets a word in. “Oh, that would be wonderful. Your collection is truly dazzling.”

She laughs. “ Of course it is, dear! I’ve been building it personally for thirty years, and my father before me -”

She continues like that. Barry tries to tone it out. He’s glad he doesn’t have to try and respond; he’d had more than enough of that when he’d had to have dinner with her. She is a  _ monumentally  _ boring woman.

They finally reach the door to the treasure vault, after what feels like decades of the duchess babbling. The doors swing open, Davenport and the duchess enter, flanked by guards, and Lup,  Taako and Barry slip towards the enormous wooden door, behind which the Light is housed.

They link arms again, as they had the first time they’d broken in, and  Taako casts blink. The Light is right in front of them, ready for the taking.

Taako points to the first guard, then at himself.  Lup points at the second, and Barry nods, positioning himself next to the third. He raises one hand next to the guard’s head, and holds up three fingers. He folds one down, and the second.

The first guard crumples as  Taako casts sleep a beat early. Barry curses and casts the spell quickly, his own guard dropping like a stone, but Lup’s a little slower off the mark, and her spell misses as the guard ducks, already drawing a vicious-looking sword. Barry hurls a silence at the door as the guard takes a swing at Lup, missing by a hair’s breadth. She steps in close, cutting off his room to manoeuvre, and punches him square in the nose. He yells, staggering back a step and dropping the sword, and Lup follows up, stepping in closer and grabbing a hold of him to keep him still as Taako lines up a second sleep spell. The guard finally crumples, but the whole affair had been very noisy. Barry’s glad he had the presence of mind to cast silence.

“Ko, what the  _ fuck?”  _ Lup says. “You almost fucked this all up.”

“Sorry, Lulu. Just  keepin ’ you on your toes.”  Taako shrugs. “My bad. Actually, it was really  Barold’s fault, he changed the rhythm of the countdown -”

“Gods, Ko, if we didn’t need you to get the Light, I’d kill you right now and see you next cycle, you goofus,” Lup says, and  Taako rolls his eyes, but obediently places his hands on the glass. Immediately, it starts to ripple and turn opaque as it begins to turn to stone.

“Lup, do you, uh, do you think this guy saw us?” Barry asks. “ Like , could he recognise us? I’m  gonna have to use modify memory. Can you, uh, draw the circle on your own?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, Bear,”  Lup says, pulling the chalk from her pocket and giving Barry a quick peck on the lips.  Taako makes gagging noises, so she doubles back to pull him into a much deeper and more passionate kiss. Barry can feel his cheeks burning even as he grins at her and kneels next to the guard.

Barry slaps the guy into an awake, if woozy, state, and starts to whisper, lacing his words with the spell’s power. He looks up. “Hey, what memory should I give this guy? I feel bad for  Lup breaking his face, I  wanna give him a happy memory to replace it.”

“Uh, eating something delicious?” Lup suggests, but Taako scoffs.

“C’mon, Lu, be more inventive. Maybe he discovered a new hobby. Abseiling.”

“Abseiling? Why abseiling? Why not just make him have had mind-blowing sex with his husband or wife or whatever?”

“We don’t know that he has a husband, Lup, that’s why.”

“We don’t know that this plane has abseiling,” she counters.

“That’s even better! He invented it. He'll be a hero.”

Barry leans down and whispers to the guy, before straightening up and casting another sleep. “Okay, this guy just invented abseiling. At least we can leave this plane knowing we left our mark.”

Lup shakes her head as she continues to draw the circle. “If you ever modify my memory, just make me have had dope sex. I’d prefer that to inventing a shitty sport like abseiling.”

“Shitty? You’re walking vertically down a cliff, Lup, what about that is shitty?”

“Yeah, okay, but would you rather do that or bone down?”

Taako pulls a face and grunts.

“I fuckin’ knew it,”  Lup grins at him. “Okay, circle’s done.”

Barry peeks over her shoulder. The circle’s runes look good, and so he nods, turning back to Taako.

“I’m, like, fifteen minutes out still. Anyone  wanna play cards?”  Taako asks. Barry laughs and pulls a pack from his demiplane.

Taako’s pretty much dead on in his estimate of fifteen minutes, actually. The last of the glass ripples and becomes a black granite as the spell completes, and  Taako steps back, rubbing his hands together and looking very pleased with himself. “Also,” he says. “Full house. Read ‘ em and weep.”

Barry looks down at his own cards. “Wait, how have you got an ace of hearts?  _ I’ve  _ got the ace of hearts. How – are you transmuting your cards as we play?”

Taako shrugs. “Doesn’t say in the rules you can’t cheat. Anyway, I happen to know Lup was cheating, too.”

Barry’s head whips round to confront her. She has the decency to look sorry about it, at least, but she reveals her own cards – she also has an ace of hearts. “What the fuck, guys,” Barry deadpans. “No wonder I can’t win.”

Taako laughs and casts stone shape, moving his hands like he’s swirling cotton candy in the machine, and the granite peels back, revealing the Light. He grabs it up and walks into the centre of the circle. “Nah, you can’t win cos you’ve got a shitty poker face,” he says, in the way he always does when he thinks he’s getting the last word.

He blinks in confusion.

Barry and  Lup exchange a look. “Uh, Ko?”

“Uh, Lulu, the spell isn’t working. Come up here and try it.”

Barry feels his blood run cold, even as  Lup steps into the circle and tries casting the spell. Nothing.

“Shit,” she says. “They - they must have warded this room. We can’t teleport.”

Barry doesn’t need to double-check the runes. He and Lup went over the teleportation spell a dozen times, and she got it flawless every time. “Shit,” he agrees, nervously. “We could abort, but they’d beef up security. And we’d have taught this guy to abseil for nothing.”

It’s obvious  Lup’s brain is running at a million miles an hour. She’s tugging on a strand of hair and biting her lip.

“Okay, so. Me and Barry make a distraction.  Taako levitates the Light out, invisible. We’ll need to get it out of the castle, somehow. Shit.”

“What kind of distraction? We need something that’s  gonna draw everyone’s attention to us,” he says. “Including the guards.  Taako can’t blink with the Light, he’s  gonna have to open the doors to levitate it through.”

They all look at each other for a moment. “I have one idea, but you guys aren’t  gonna like it,”  Taako says.

Lup and Barry walk down the corridor, hand in hand.  Lup giggles and leans on Barry, and he puts an arm around her waist.

“If you’re  gonna be this gross the whole time,”  Taako hisses, “I’m  gonna dump the Light and run.” Barry just rolls his eyes and presses a kiss on  Lup’s cheek. He stumbles a little as  Taako smacks him in the back with the Light. “Oops.”

He doesn’t give the elf the satisfaction of a response, knowing he’s only fucking with him. Instead, they keep walking, approaching the door at the end of the corridor.

“Hey,”  Lup says to the guard, who’s looking somewhat perplexed at the fact they’re outside of the party area. “I know we shouldn’t be back here, but, you know, we just thought we’d... sneak away, for a couple of minutes?” Barry knows he’s turning red at the implication, but at least that probably fits with their cover. “So, if you could, you know, just let us back in, that’d be great.”

The guard pauses for a moment and Barry’s heart skips a beat. He starts to gear up for a fight – reaching for his wand with one hand and squeezing Lup’s hand with the other - but the guard chuckles and shakes his head. “Young love, huh?” He opens the door and ushers them through. “Have a nice night.”

They keep walking, facing straight ahead, but  Lup whispers, “Taako?”

“Here,” his voice comes from behind them.

“That guy was shit at his job, huh?”  Lup says, her tone jovial but her vice grip on Barry's hand belying her nerves. “He’s clearly never watched a heist movie before.”

Barry chuckles and nods, trying to relax. He’d been stressed enough  _ before  _ everything had gone wrong. And now, knowing what he’s going to have to do next, he’s even less happy.

The issue they face is that to get the Light out of the castle, Taako would have to leave through the ballroom. The same ballroom that’s packed full of people dancing, which isn’t conducive to invisible movement.

Unless someone creates a distraction.

“Wait here,”  Lup hisses, and  Taako gives a grunt of acknowledgement as he presses himself against a wall, levitating the Light high above the dancefloor where no one will bump into it. Barry and  Lup head towards the band.

“Bear, are you sure about this? There has to be another way.”

“No,  Lup , it’s fine. I – I don’t see how else we can do it.”

She nods, pressing her lips together in a tight line.

Barry feels himself sweating. He feels nervous, small, alone – just like he had when he’d been pretending to date her. Which, he guesses, makes perfect sense, given what they’re about to do.

Lup steps up onto the band’s podium and whispers to the guitarist, who offers her his microphone. They stop playing to allow her to speak. She takes it with a grateful smile, and says into it, “good evening, ladies and gents.”

Everyone stops dancing and turns to her with a mix of confusion and good humour. Barry quickly casts True Sight and turns to the back of the crowd, where he sees  Taako shuffling along the wall, the Light levitating ten feet in the air.

“First, obviously, I’d like to say that this is, uh, a  _ fucking great party,”  _ Lup calls, and there are cheers from the crowd. Barry spots Davenport in the crowd. The gnome is desperately trying to catch his eye without tipping off the duchess that something weird is happening. He’s giving him an urgent “what the fuck” look, but Barry can only shrug apologetically.

“Second, uh, as most of you know, me and Barry  Bluejeans have been together for a while now,”  Lup continues. “Barry, c’mon up here!”

He does, climbing onto the stage. He can feel himself turning bright red and sweating under the gazes of the thousands of assembled people. “Uh, hi,” he says, with an anxious wave to the crowd, which gets a laugh.

“Barry,” she says, looking into his eyes, and he can see the nervous energy she’s exuding clear as day. “I - I’ve had an enormous crush on your forever. As long as I can remember.”

She reaches out and grabs his hand, squeezing, and he knows that it’s partially for the performance, but he can tell she’s as anxious as he is, seeking reassurance in the form of his presence.

He nods and licks his dry lips.

“And, babe, we’ve only been together for, like, two months, but it feels like a lot longer. It feels like my whole life, and I – I can’t imagine being without you. You make me so happy, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.  And so, I – will you marry me?”

She drops to one knee, and presents the ring she’d had  Taako transmute. It’s silver, with a  single diamond set in the top.

Barry tries to act surprised and nervous, which isn’t all that hard. He nods, mute, and  Lup slides the ring on his finger and jumps up to kiss him square on the lips, which he’d normally enjoy but it’s tough with all those people watching.

Ah, who’s he kidding? He still enjoys it.

There’s a round of applause from the crowd. Barry turns back in time to see  Taako slide the main door open just wide enough to slip the Light through and disappear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thank you for reading!
> 
> So, scheduling note. I'm going to upload the epilogue to this fic on Thursday as usual, but I'm also going to publish the first chapter of my new fic I've been working on! It's something I'm really proud of, and I've got enough words planned and written that it's going to be longer than everything else I've posted to ao3 combined, so I hope you'll all keep an eye out for that!  
> Because of that, though, I'm gonna go down to one upload a week. I have university starting up in September, and given that the chapters for the new fic are longer on average (nearly twice as long!) I just can't keep posting at the rate I have been. My regular day for uploads will be Thursdays, going forward.
> 
> Thank you all for reading! This fic was so much fun to write, and I'm so glad that so many of you enjoyed it so much. Please leave a comment and a kudos <3


	10. Chapter 10

Back in cycle 0, Sildar  Hallwinter had been respected. He’d been one of the plane’s most accomplished scientists, pioneering theoretical bond sciences and magics. His writings had been published and cited by his peers as an example of the highest standard of techno-magic research. He’d had one of the most well-equipped laboratories in the world, along with a world-class team to back him up.

Nearly fifty years on, Barry Bluejeans has none of that. What he does have is Lup.

He watches as she hums along to the music playing over the radio, chopping onions for tonight’s meal. She sways to the beat, opening her mouth and singing a few words. He’s pretty sure she’s forgotten he’s there, so he just watches in silence, worried that saying anything will make her bring her guard up again.

She tosses the onions in the pan and swings around, singing into an imaginary microphone, and gasps when she spots Barry sat at the table. “Have you been sat there this whole time?”

He shrugs, smiling, and takes a sip from his glass. “It was cute,” he says, by way of an explanation.

“How dare you,” she says, a grin forming on her own face, “watch me dance without coming up to join me.”

He laughs and starts to shake his head, but the hopeful look on her face convinces him. He grabs ahold of her outstretched hand and pulls himself up. “It’s easy, Bear, you just have to move with the music.”

He chuckles. “You do make it sound easy.”

She gyrates her hips and moves her head with the beat. “It is! You don’t even have to do it well, Bear, no one’s watching but me.”

He tries a pelvic thrust and  Lup giggles. “Hey, don’t laugh!”

“No, no, it’s cute!” She protests. She leans over to peck him on the lips, and their impromptu dancing quickly devolves into a make-out session.

It’s her that finally pulls away, turning to stir the onions. “Where were we?” She asks when she’s done, and presses her lips to his again.

She pulls away after only a couple of seconds and turns back to the pan. He leans against the counter and smiles.

“This is nice,” he says. He’s trying not to think about the fact they’ve been missing this for fifty years; he’s not sure  Sildar Hallwinter , respected but stuffy scientist, could’ve ever been in a successful relationship with  Lup Taako, genius arcanist but kind of a dick. The people they are now are so different to the people they’d once been. He’d learned to lighten up, she’d learned compassion. He likes to think that they bettered each other. He knows she bettered him.

She chuckles. “Yeah, it is.”

There’s a comfortable silence for a few beats as  Lup starts to chop garlic. “We should go for a picnic,” he suggests. “Tomorrow. Just the two of us. Maybe – we could take the tent. Stay out under the stars. Forget about the party.”

“You sure that’s not just because you wanted to study the constellations of this plane?” She teasingly asks.

“Oh, it absolutely is,” he says. “But science is more fun when I’m with you. Everything is.”

“Aw,” she grins. “Sap. I’d love to go on a picnic with you. I’ll make some sandwiches. Maybe some little cakes, too. And we’ll grab some sausage rolls from the fridge, cos I’m  defo too lazy to make my own.”

He nods. She seems to be envisioning exactly the same kind of spread he is. “What about dinner? Conjure something?”

She hums. “I could probably make something that’ll last. Maybe – oh, I’ve got it! I’ll do some chili and put it in that Tupperware, you know, the one we got a couple cycles back that’s  enchanted to keep it warm?”

He nods. “That sounds – that sounds fucking amazing. Anything I can do to help?”

“Yeah, you can help me with prep. I’ll get started after me ‘n’ Ko clean up after dinner. Since my fussy brother isn’t  gonna be eating it, you can slice the carrots as unevenly as you like.”

“Hey! I – I try my best,” he says, but he’s smiling.

“I know you do, babe, it’s just not very good,” she smiles back, and leans in for another kiss. They break apart when they hear Merle’s voice ring out from the corridor, and Magnus’ booming tones answer.

Barry doesn’t breathe for a beat, but the voices pass the door without stopping.

“When are we  gonna tell them?” She asks. “Or, I mean, I don’t - I don’t want to push you, you know, I -”

“No, Lup, you’re right. I don’t know. It’s - they’ll want the details, you know? And, I – I know Taako knows already, I don’t know.”

“No, absolutely! I agree,” she says. “I don’t want – like, scrutiny. I want to be able to do our own shit for a while first. Maybe – maybe we tell ‘ em next cycle? That gives us a few weeks. And we can plan our attack, and tell everyone – whenever it’s convenient.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” he nods. “So, picnic. Stargazing, camping. All that good shit.”

“And,” she says. “As much kissing as we want. No Tres Horny Boys around to get in the way.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t come back,” he says, mock-seriously. She laughs.

“Honestly, that’s not even the first time I’ve thought about that,” she says. “Remember a few cycles ago, when I rented an apartment in that nearby town? I thought about asking you to come stay, like, every day. But there was only one bed, and I thought you’d be freaked out.”

He laughs. “Well, I probably would've been. I’d have been like, ‘oh, sure, she asked me to come sleep in her bed, but she probably feels obliged to!’ Very bad romance novel-y.”

“Nah, I’d have been doing exactly the same shit. Feeling bad about taking advantage. Gods, we’re a pair of walking tropes, do you know that?”

“Eh,” Barry shrugs, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is the "only one bed line" a self-burn on the fact that I desperately wanted to fit that trope into this fic and couldn't? Yes, it definitely is.
> 
> Hey, thank you so much for reading!!! This fic was really fun to write and I'm glad people got a kick out of it!  
> Also, if you enjoyed this fic, you will almost certainly enjoy [my new fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266057/chapters/63939382), because it's more Blupjeans. Bro all I can write is mutual pining someone fucking stop me help omg
> 
> (Please leave a comment and a kudos!! Thank you all so much)


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